


Caught by Crystals

by BurntKloverfield



Category: Star Wars - All Media Types, Star Wars Sequel Trilogy
Genre: Alternate Universe - Modern with Magic, Ben Solo and Rose Tico are such a good friendship, Car Accidents, Cat BB-8, Comfort, Crystal Magic, Demons, Does it count as major character death if they start out dead?, Everyone Needs More Sleep, F/M, Funeral Pyre, Ghosts, Grief/Mourning, Hospitalization, Hospitals, Human Sacrifice, Leia uses an abundance of Emojis, Look at this photograph, Mentions of Prequel Trilogy Characters, Moral Dilemmas, Murder, No Teacher Student Relationship, Okay now there's actual character death, Professor Ben Solo, Retribution, Revenge, Scars, Talk about death, Violence, When I said No Teacher Student Relationship I meant romantic relationship, Witchcraft, Witches, found family trope, grave robbing
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2018-10-01
Updated: 2019-06-28
Packaged: 2019-07-23 04:19:09
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Major Character Death
Chapters: 27
Words: 42,057
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/16151465
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/BurntKloverfield/pseuds/BurntKloverfield
Summary: Ben Solo moves into a small Southern college town to escape his past. His supernatural abilities begin to uncover secrets and to reveal truths. Soon enough, he is on a journey to make everything right.





	1. Chapter 1

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Ben Solo moves into town and meets a collection of people who will be inseparably linked to his fate.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I have edited this chapter, but it was only cleaning it up and making it pretty and tightening up wording and grammar.

  
  


Ben Solo stared up at the old house, and he looked back down at the newspaper clipping, comparing the house numbers. The photograph matched the exterior, and the numbers lined up, so he decided he was in the right place. He had had enough of the late summer humidity of the American South and was itching to get out of it. He noted the overgrown bushes and grass as he headed up the stone walkway, and he recognized the invasive species of vine that climb the columns of the front section of the wrap-around porch. It was a picturesque snapshot of a home that had survived since before the Civil War in the backwoods southern Virginia town. The mismatched rocking chairs on the porch were motionless in the suffocating air. It always reminded Ben of a student of his telling him that moving through the humid air felt like walking through cotton. This was the South: The air was always as thick as cotton. The front door was open, but the thick mesh screen kept the bugs out. He could see straight through the main hallway to an open back door, also sporting a screen door. This door had a gauzy curtain attached that moved the tiniest bit in the breeze created by both open doors. 

Ben rapped against the doorframe, and he heard someone getting up from a chair and shuffling over a thick carpet laid over a creaky wood floor. A short African-American woman with thick glasses peered up at him from behind the screen. 

"Ben Solo!" The woman greeted as she threw the creaky screen door open. The door hit Ben's leg as he tried to jump out of the way.

"You're Maz Kanata?" Ben asked.

"Yes, yes, of course, boy! We spoke on the phone, didn't we?"

Ben nodded.

"Come on into the kitchen, boy, and we'll get the paperwork all settled out." Maz led the way to the large homey kitchen that had been connected to the large dining room in some renovation. "Remind me again of what you do?" Maz asked as she shuffled through a folder of papers and then handed him the folder.

"Oh, um, I'm an English professor." He took an offered seat at the oversized dining table, and he skimmed over the room and board agreement.

"Yes! I remember now." Maz puttered about the kitchen, and she pulled a pitcher of lemonade from the fridge, and she set about putting ice in it. "There are a handful of the college students I rent to. You may end up teaching some of them."

"Oh?" Ben replied. His shoulders drooped at the prospect of being all too close to his students' lives.

"Mhmm," Maz hummed. "I don't think any of them are English majors, but everyone needs to take it. There's a Miss Rose Tico. The sweetheart is destined to be the best darn mechanic this town's ever seen, if she chooses the field. You'll most likely see the most of Finn Samuel. He's been undeclared so far as I know, but the boy has a good head on his shoulders." 

"Should I worry about noise levels?" Ben sighed.

Maz laughed. "Not at all. They know I'm old."

Ben's mouth flickered with the hint of a smile.

"They are good kids. Have their own struggles, but good kids."

Ben signed the papers and dated the final one and handed the folder back to Maz. "Are there any other renters?"

Maz took the folder and placed a glass of lemonade in his hand. "You might see people come and go, but Rose and Finn are pretty consistent."

Ben took a sip of the lemonade, and his eyes went wide at the mass amount of sugar that Maz had added.

Maz laughed. "If you want to join dinner with everyone, it's at 6pm nightly. I make enough for anyone who shows."

Ben nodded. "I don't know how often I will. I do have a night class scheduled."

"I understand." Maz leaned on the table. "We are a family here, Solo. We watch out for each other. It's not just our Southern Hospitality. That's just how Maz's is. If you need anything at all, we've got you. Let us know."

"I will, Maz. Thank you."

* * *

Moving in was simple enough. Ben didn't have very much, and the room came pre-furnished. The bed, he noticed, looked new, and it was even long enough for his build. He surveyed the rest of the room. The window was facing west, and the sturdy oak desk stood guard beneath the windowsill. A large empty bookshelf filled the opposite wall. He smiled at it and glanced at the moving boxes he had carried up. He took one and set it on the bed, pulling a pocketknife from his jacket pocket to slice the packing tape away. The box contained a portion of his books padded with clothing. Ben took the neatly folded clothes and set them on his bed, and he put his books in their new home.

He was lost in his thoughts when he heard the doorknob to the room across the hall rattle. He leaned over to look out his open door, and his eyes rested on a young woman with her arms full of potted plants. She was trying to open the door but couldn't quite get the doorknob to turn with her arms balancing the plant life. 

Ben surged forward and reached around her easily with his long limbs to open the door. "Need help?"

She looked up at him with sparkling hazel eyes and freckles over her nose that wrinkled with the smile brightening her face. As she pushed into her room, Ben caught the robust smell of nutrient rich dirt and varied plants. "Thank you!" she chirped, setting her new plants on the floor. 

Ben took in the room. It faced the backyard, and the far wall was all windows, covered by a set of gauzy off-white curtains. A closed pair of French doors led to a balcony. What really impressed Ben was that plants inhabited the entire room and balcony. The only piece of furniture that did not hold a pot was the wrought iron day bed furnished with a homemade floral quilt and old matching pillow.

"New boarder?" The woman asked, pushing hair from her face and leaving a streak of dirt across her forehead.

"Yes, I am. I'm Ben Solo," he introduced.

"Rey, just Rey," she returned with a shy smile. She looked away and made room for her new plants. "What brings you to Maz's?"

"I teach. I'm starting at the community college this semester."

"What do you teach?" She pushed a pot farther back on a shelf and adjusted its sun lamp.

"English."

Rey hummed. "I love stories, but the stories we read in school were always so sad."

"Sadness is such a strong emotion, so universal."

Rey looked up at him again, and her eyes seemed to pierce his soul. "You're sad."

Ben blinked in surprise, and he subconsciously took a step back so he stood squarely in her doorway.

Rey took a little succulent in a small glass mason jar and pushed it into his large hands. "I'm sure it's an old wives' tale, but plants protect us. We take care of them, and they will catch the curses aimed at us."

"Thank you," Ben said, bringing the jar up to his face to study it. "It's lovely."

Rey stared at his face, feeling the low rumble of his voice in her stomach.

"Well, I should get back to unpacking."

"It's nice to meet you, Ben Solo."

"Likewise."

She shut the door slowly, leaving Ben in the hallway with a tiny succulent in a mason jar in his hands. He let himself smile.

The footsteps barreling down the stairs broke his quiet moment, and he stepped backwards so he wasn't blocking the hallway. A young Asian woman bounded onto the landing.

"Oh, hello!" She greeted. "You're the new boarder! I'm Rose! Ah, you got a plant, too? Mine's a fern!"

Ben nodded, "Nice to meet you."

Rose nodded back. "You're the professor, aren't you? I'm attending. Trying to pick between mechanical engineering or childhood education."

"Oh, well, good luck with that," Ben said, trying to be supportive. "Those are very different fields."

"What do you teach?"

"English."

"Oh! Are you Professor Solo?" At his nod, she continued. "I'm in your intro to American Lit course this fall! I'm so glad I was able to get into your class. The other teacher is Professor Hux, and…" She stopped and looked down at her hands now balled into fists at her sides. "Sorry, I've got to get going. Welcome to Maz's, Pro So!" She continued past him to the next flight of stairs down to the main level.

Ben took that opportunity to retire to his room and close the door behind him. He went to put the mason jar up on a shelf, but he remembered Rey's old wives' tale, and he instead went to his bedside table and set it beside the old analog alarm clock. 

* * *

Ben turned the key in the lock of his door, relaxing at the click. He left the skeleton key in the door, and he surveyed his room for the first time now only bathed in moonlight. He took a single breath in and let out a puff of air. The candle on his desk sparked into a low orange flame. He let out a series of short puffs, and with each one, a candle came to life. He smelled the mingling scents, sandalwood, vanilla, birch, orange peel. Choosing scented candles had been a good choice, he decided. He waved his hand, and the candles hovered from their various places to form a circle on the wooden floor. Ben drew a circle in the air with his finger, and a bit of chalk mimicked his movements, creating a chalk circle just within the circle of candles. 

Ben waved, and the mason jar, a small bowl, a notebook, a pen, and a small plate hovered to the little haven he was creating. He took a water bottle from the messenger bag he used for work, and he finally took a step into the circle. The man lowered himself so he was cross-legged and closed his eyes. He took in the momentary quiet of the night, meditating for a moment about his first day in the house. He thought about the pretty girl with a room full of life and a sparkle in her eye. He took a deep breath in and held out his hand. Several small quartz crystals followed the command to come to him, and he set the crystals in a circle in front of him and set the little succulent in the center.

He leaned forward, examining the succulent, feeling out the connection it had to Rey and the life force it held. "An abundance of blossoms," Ben whispered, urging the desire into the universe, a little wish for the lady. The crystals glowed with a soft white light, but the glow stayed in the stones. Ben frowned and carefully took the jar to examine the plant. He wondered about the validity of Rey's old wives' tale and set it outside the circle.

He took the bowl, a glazed clay one he had crafted in high school pottery, and he poured water into the bottom from his water bottle, and he took a swig before setting it down. He scrawled a set of desires for his upcoming semester onto a page from the notebook and ripped the page out and folded it into a well-practiced origami lantern box. He pressed the wishes to his lips, thinking on his hopes.

Moving to this small town to teach at this quiet unknown community college had not been the path he had wanted to take, yet here he was. He had dreamed of something larger, some way to prove himself. Now, if he wanted to have any life at all, he needed to stay in this little town. At least that's what he had been told, and the source of it he trusted. 

Ben held the lantern over the candle flame before him, the one that smelled like birch, until it caught fire. The wish smoldered in the palm of his hand until the flame threatened to lick his skin. He then turned his hand so it fell into the water. The flame turned into a wisp of smoke and rose into the air.

"My apprentice," a rasp whispered as the smoke took form.

Ben bowed his head as the demon settled into the visual realm.

"You're seeking attentive students with keen minds?" it chuckled. "Is that all? I would have thought you'd ask for more, considering…"

Ben shook his head. "That is all I desire now."

"Are you sure, Kylo Ren?" The demon reached out with its wispy appendage to stroke Ben's chin. "Are you sure you do not desire that nymph across the hall?"

Ben turned his chin away. "Nymph?"

The demon laughed. "Ancient mythology, child. Extinct now. She is not. Though, I miss their souls, their taste… And that girl. She has given you a plant that resists your magic, your power, you, the mighty witch, Kylo Ren."

Ben looked back up at the smoky form. 

"She must be powerful…"

"Stronger than she knows, Master. She did not fully believe the magic she holds."

"Are you sure you do not desire her, Kylo Ren?"

"I only desire what I have asked for," he insisted, bowing his head.

"If attentive students are what you desire, you know the price."

He took a safety pin from his pocket, and he flipped the point free, sticking the point deep in the thumb of his left hand. He held the wound over the bowl, letting each large drop of blood fall into the bowl of water, wishes, and ashes. "I give my blood for a portion of power," he spoke in oath, words practiced and repeated.

The crystal glow grew brighter, and the light flowed from the crystals, turning red as the glow grazed the surface of the water, lapping up the drop of blood.

The Demon Snoke held out its hazy arm, and the now red glow rose and disappeared into the darkness. "As you desire, my apprentice."

 


	2. Chapter 2

Ben sat at the kitchen table, eating a bowl of cereal as he studied his upcoming lesson plans. The air held the chill of a morning just before the sun had risen, and a breeze rustled through as the front door opened and closed. He glanced up at the young man. He looked weary as he hung the security guard jacket on the hat stand just to the side of the front door. He wandered into the kitchen, not even looking at Ben as he went straight to the bread box and cut himself a thick slice of banana bread Maz had baked the previous afternoon.

"Morning," Ben greeted, and the man jumped. "Sorry."

"I didn't see you. Just go off work." He yawned then looked sadly at the crumbs that had fallen from his bread. "New boarder?" 

"Yeah, just a couple days." 

"Eh, I'm not here a lot, usually working. When I am here, I'm out cold." He yawned again and waved. "Name's Finn."

"Ben," he returned. "Graveyard?"

"I'm a night guard at the shopping center. Thought it'd be a nice easy job so I could save up for school. Nobody's got anything to do out here, so they all make mischief at like 2 in the morning." He took another bite of his brad. "I've really got to get to bed."

"Good to meet you, Finn."

"Same."

 

* * *

Rey wandered down the stairs to the living room. It was quiet in the house at 10 in the morning.

"Hello, Dear," Maz greeted, not looking up from the soap opera playing on the large cube of a television that occupied a large wooden entertainment center.

"Hello, Maz."

"How are you?"

Rey went to sit on the ancient, sagging loveseat. "Alright. A little lonely."

Maz nodded. "Not for long, Dear. Wind's blowing in company."

As if on cue, there was a rapping on the screen door, and a breeze rustled the curtain. If she hadn't been listening, Rey would have disregarded the noise as the wind pushing the door in its frame, but Maz lifted herself out of the overstuffed armchair and went to greet their guest.

"Han Solo!"

"Hi, Maz."

Rey frowned and stood to follow Maz into the entryway. The man on the doorstep looked like an older, gruffer version of Ben, her new neighbor across the hall. Mas was giving him a hug, and Rey smiled at how she hardly came to his chest.

"Where's Chewbacca? I like that friend of yours." Maz closed the screen behind him.

Han gave a weary laugh. "He's on the road. I'm actually looking for my son. Is he here?"

Maz shook her head. "I'm afraid not. But you're welcome to stay and wait for him."

Han shifted on his heels, his thumbs through his belt loops.

"Why are you looking for Ben?" Rey asked, stepping forward. "It is Ben, right?"

Han looked up at her and nodded. "Are you a friend of his?"

"Oh, not really," she returned with a shrug. "He rents the room across from me. I've only spoken to him once."

Han chuckled. "Keep trying. The kid needs a friend."

Rey beamed and nodded.

"But I just came to see him. I've got some time off the road and thought it'd be good to see the kid."

"Are you a trucker?"

He nodded. "All my life. Good money. Always an adventure."

"I've always wanted to travel," Rey sighed wistfully.

Maz waved them towards the kitchen, and Han gave a smirk that must have been so charming when he was younger. Rey wondered if Ben smiled like his father. They followed Maz into the kitchen and took seats while Maz puttered from counter to counter to cabinet to fridge.

"So why haven't yah?" Han asked.

Rey shrugged. "Never really had the chance… my parents…" she shifted in her seat.

"I know, kid. I didn't have the greatest parents either." He looked out the kitchen window. "I know I wasn't the best parent."

 

* * *

Ben sighed and rubbed the bridge of his nose the moment he was out of his department meeting. The English department at the small community college was a strange collection, and Ben wasn't sure how they worked together at all. The head of the department was a tall woman named Amilyn Holdo, and she was kind and regal. She taught classics and mythology and an intro class, and she was severely over-qualified for her positions. There was Professor Armitage Hux, a snide, greasy man who countered anything Holdo said. A young blonde woman, a Kaydel Connix, was teaching her first proper creative writing course. She had just finished her teaching certification, and she was excited for the new chapter of her life. The last man was Dopheld Mitaka who oversaw the journalism and communications courses and the campus paper. It was a miracle that there was any cooperation at all between the amalgamation of personalities.

Amilyn Holdo set a hand on Ben's shoulder. "Thank you again for joining our department. I wasn't sure what I would do when I heard…" She sighed. "It was a miracle you were available to take Paige Tico's position."

Ben nodded. "I am sorry to hear about Miss Tico. I had heard good things about her. What exactly happened?"

Kaydel Connix leaned forward as she was sliding her organized files into her bag. She lowered her voice as she shared what she knew. "She was found dead on the side of a dirt road, and… nobody is sure of what exactly happened, but… she was dead before her body was run over. Papers said hit and run."

Amilyn set a hand on Kaydel's shoulder. The young new teacher blushed, suddenly realizing that she shouldn't be talking in such a gossipy tone.

"That's awful," Ben offered, taking the horror in.

Holdo nodded, keeping her face motionless. "Thank you again, Ben, for coming on such short notice. Your mother had nothing but glowing reviews of you."

Ben let out a single laugh. "She's my mother; of course she would."

Kaydel took this opportunity to follow her associates down the hall, leaving Ben and Amilyn to finish their conversation.

"I'm sorry to hear about your father. You look just like him."

Ben paused at that. He swallowed and glanced out the window overlooking the parking lot. "I didn't know you had met him."

"I was at your parents' wedding. I'm sure that Leia had told you we were old schoolmates?"

Ben nodded. "I must have forgotten." He felt his phone buzz in his pocket, and he shifted to retrieve it.

"I'm sure you have other things to do," Holdo nodded. "I'll let you get going. Have a good evening."

"Thank you, Amilyn. You too."

 

* * *

Ben checked the time on his phone as he strode up the front walk, noting that it wasn't quite 6 pm. He smiled. He decided that he'd like to join the house dinner that night. He hadn't had the chance to yet.

The front door and the screen door had both been shut properly, and Ben shoved his phone back in his pocket so he could open them. His other arm was full of folders he really should have put into his messenger bag. The screen door was easy to open, but the large heavy wood door fit just right, and while the door itself was still just wood, the door jamb had been painted multiple times over the decades, and the moist air between paint and wood had made the door stick. Ben pressed his shoulder to the door as he twisted the doorknob, putting all his weight on it. Ben hopped a couple times as he broke the inertia and stumbled inside. He turned to close both doors, and just as the screen latched, he froze.

The typical sounds of dinner preparation came from the end of the hall, the sounds of heating food and clinking dishes. Maz wasn't alone in the kitchen, but he knew the man's voice that was chatting about his old racing days.

Ben left the doors and rushed to the dining room archway. Rey came into view first, sitting at one of the antique dining room chairs. She smiled at something that had been said. She glanced up at Ben and gave him a wave. He finally entered the dining room, and the man he had heard was sitting diagonally across from Rey. His father looked up at Ben and gave a roguish smile. The folders in his arm fell to the floor, and floating papers skidded over the hardwood.

"Good to see yah, kid," Han Solo greeted.

"Your father came to see you," Maz informed as she drained noodles in the sink.

"Maz?" Ben whispered.

"Yes, Ben, I see them, too."

"Them?"

"Manners, Ben. Say hello. He's been waiting hours for you," Maz scolded.

Han motioned to the chair beside him. "Take a seat. You look like you've seen a ghost."

Ben surprised himself with a cold laugh. "Why are you here?"

"Just to come see you. What's wrong with your old man dropping by?"

"You're not supposed to be here. I thought I—." Ben suddenly looked at Rey, who was frowning at the exchange. 

"Yeah, yeah, I know, Ben." Han stood. "I'll get out of here." Ben noticed that the chair never moved as his father left the table. As Han passed by Ben, he set a frigid hand on Ben's shoulder. "See you around, kid."

Ben did not turn to watch him leave. He faced Rey properly. "You saw him?"

"Your father? Who you just told to get out of here? Yes! I've been speaking with him for hours!" She stood. "He cares about you! He misses you! He came all this way to see you! To make sure you were doing okay!" Rey had stormed through the table and glared up at him. "You have a family! He loves you! And you toss him out! He waited for hours for you!" 

Ben shook his head and leaned forward to study her angry face. "What are you?"

"What am I?" Rey's eyes widened in rage. "A decent human being!"

"No, Rey," his voice lowered. "My father is dead."

"What do you mean he's dead?" She scoffed. "We were talking for hours!"

Ben reached out a hand.

"Don't, boy," Maz cautioned. "I don't need her distraught."

Ben spun on his heel to stare down Maz who was still busy with food. "You saw him, too."

"I did. I know I liked your eyes. You've got the sight."

"The sight?"

"Rey's like your father."

Ben spun, but Rey was no longer in the kitchen.

Footsteps from the front door to the kitchen disturbed Ben's distress. Rose appeared in the doorway where he had dropped all his papers and folders.

"Are you alright, ProSo?" she asked, stooping down to collect papers.

He squatted to join her. "Fine." 

Rose nodded. "Do I get extra credit for this?" she joked.

Ben's eyes shot daggers of danger in her direction. "No…"

Rose laughed awkwardly.

"Don't mind him, Rose," Maz instructed as she brought the large pot of spaghetti to the table.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thank you so much, Purditax, for betaing!


	3. Chapter 3

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thank you to Purditax for being a wonderful beta!!!

Ben paused at the base of the stairs as Rose was helping Maz with the dusting.

 

“Rose,” he caught her attention. “You said that you had received a plant, too?”

 

Rose glanced up at him and nodded. “A fern.”

 

“Who gave you your fern?”

 

“Oh, I’m sure it was Maz. It was just in front of my door. Have you seen her garden? Her green room? It’s right across the hall from your room.”

 

“Nobody rents that room?”

 

“No, of course not! There’s too many plants for someone to live in it!”

 

“I’ll have to go look at it.”

 

"It’s so calming and cheery. I sit in there all the time. It really helped after my sister…” The wound in Rose’s heart was all too fresh, and she clutched at the crescent moon necklace she wore around her neck. She stared at the little antique clock she was dusting on the credenza that filled the painful moment with its steady ticking.

 

“Do you need anything, Miss Tico?”

 

Rose shook her head. “Nothing you can give, ProSo.”

 

Ben gave a nod in return. “Take care of yourself. I know that pain.”

 

Rose glared back at Ben. “How could you? I’ve lost everything. My sister was the last of my family. And you’re here just for her job. Have some compassion.”

 

Ben was taken aback by Rose’s ferocity, and so, he simply said, “I apologize. I don’t know.” He made his way up the creaky stairs, intending to just go to his room, but he knew he needed to speak with Rey. Ben stood at his door, clenching his jaw as he thought back on the appearance of his father’s ghost in his new home. He turned and knocked on Rey’s door. The door creaked open, and Rey peeked out. Her hair was a mess, and her white, lace sundress was covered in dirt. Her room was dark behind her.

 

“Rey…”

 

She swallowed and opened the door a little wider. 

 

“I… wasn’t…” he looked away at the ancient wallpaper in the hallway, and he looked back at her. “My father is dead, Rey. That is the truth. That is not a trick.”

 

“Then how can I see him?” she whispered. “How can you see him?”

 

“Can I come in?” 

 

Rey nodded and hid behind the white painted door as she opened it further. He glanced around, noticing that the moonlight was trickling in through her gauzy curtains and that all of the UV lamps for her plants were dark. Her green room felt like a dream in the night time. Rey closed her door, cutting off the yellow light from the hallway lamp. She looked so small among the plants as she wrapped her arms around herself.    
  
“What is going on, Ben? What am I? Why did you ask me that?” Rey never looked up at him. She kept her eyes on her plants.   
  
He took a seat on the daybed, looking much too large for it. “Do you know what you are, Rey?”   
  
Tears started to trickle down her cheeks. “Am I dead?”   
  
Ben was promptly back to his feet, setting his large hands on her bare upper arms. She immediately chilled his palms. His eyes fell to the ground, and he chewed on the inside of his cheek. “I think you may be…” His heart cracked. He had wanted to comfort her, to tell her that she was alive and well, but these little pieces told him otherwise. “Come into the light.” He gently guided the crying ghost of a girl into the moonlight, and he felt the crack in his heart grow a little bigger. The girl who had given him a little plant, who had talked kindly to his father, who had such a hopeful heart was not as lively as she seemed. The moonlight poured in, and Rey’s image became translucent. He could see his fingers through her arms. “You are not alive, Rey…” he whispered. He let his left hand drop, but he traced his right down her arm to bring it up properly in the moonlight so she could see it herself. He held her hand loosely in his own and ran his thumb across the back of her hand so she could see it through her palm. She followed his gaze, and she moved her fingers, slowly first, then clasped his wrist with a clammy grip.

 

“Why can I touch you? And my plants? I thought ghosts… couldn’t…”

 

Ben shook his head. “I don’t think you’re just a ghost, Rey.”

 

“You think I’m something more than a ghost because I can move things?” Rey asked, running her fingers over a leaf. The moonlight dribbled through the gauzy curtains and flowed through her limb. She watched the leaf move through her hand. She felt like fog. She focused, and she caught the plant firmly between her fingers, though the moonlight still fell over the green ridges.  

 

“I think you may have…” Ben shifted, then took a seat on the daybed. He swallowed, trying to make his tongue not feel so heavy in his mouth. “You may have had powers,” he finally decided on the wording.

 

“If I was so powerful, then why am I dead?” Rey sneered. The leaf in her spiritual grasp gradually turned brown and dry, making Ben’s silence lengthen. “What am I, Ben? Why am I here?” The once thriving plant was drying up, and the leaves fell to the ground. Rey turned and stalked to Ben. For the first time since he came to her that night, she looked into his face, into his eyes. Rey’s eyes glinted in the low light. She was fully in shadow now, no longer a crystalline form in the moonlight. She stood in all her glory, staring him down. “What are you, Ben Solo?”

 

“Magic,” Ben whispered.

 

“Did you kill me?”

 

Ben shook his head.

 

“Then who did?” Agitation made her voice crack.

 

“How did you die?” Ben asked softly, his gaze  travelling over her face. 

 

Her fury and terror at realizing that she did not remember the moment of her passing trickled from her lost soul and seeped into the room, wreaking decay among  her plants as it flooded through the room. 

 

“Rey, do you remember—“ Ben tried again, but his insistence only brought more dropping leaves and withering flowers and crumbling branches. The air in the room turned stale, even the very air in Ben’s lungs. He coughed. Where was the air that used to be so full of life? Where was the Rey that used to be so full of light?

 

“Who are you to question me?” she rasped, the pain in her heart making her words rasp into existence, mimicking the crinkling of dying plants. “I’m the dead one! You’re still so alive!” 

 

“No,” he coughed. “I’m being torn apart.”

 

At that realization, Rey reached out her hand. “You don’t know how I died, but you do know how your father died,” she hushed.

 

As Ben struggled to breathe through the death filled air, his eyes stayed on Rey, marvelling at how consuming, how enchanting, how enrapturing she was. His lungs screamed at him for fresh air. His body told him to run. His mind was trying to piece together everything that she was, because she was certainly more than a garden variety ghost. It was his heart that kept him frozen in place as she reached out to touch his face. She was a terrifying destructive force, but she wanted answers that he was afraid to give. Her fingers traced lightly up the bridge of his nose to the center of his forehead, searching for a way in, for a way to have him give her perspective, give her a clue to who she is, to who she was, to what she is now. She felt something beneath her fingertips, emotion seeping off him. She let her hand drop as his memory poured into her own mind. 

 

“You monster,” she whispered. Heavy tears rolled over her cheeks. “You watched your father die.”

 

“More than that,” he leaned forward, setting a hand on her elbow as her hand fell from his face. “I killed my father.”

 

Rey watched the scene, the broken scene in her mind as if she were Ben in that moment. Flashes of Han’s face, of a loving father. Smoke. Darkness everywhere. Pain that had never been hers, pain that she never should have felt. Crystals and fire and blood and screams. There was no triumphant finale to this scene, only the smothered searing pain of Ben, knowing that he had made the worst decision of his life.

 

“I wasn’t Ben,” he told her, watching as terror and hatred filled her face. “That monster is not the man you gave a succulent to. That man who killed his father is Kylo Ren, is me, is a monster who sold his soul for a taste of immortality, of control.” Tears began to build at the corners of his eyes as he took both of her hands in his own. “I can never die. I can never have that release. I gave my soul, and my father’s soul, to a demon, for some semblance of control in my life. Control that I never received.”

 

“How could you? He loved you,” Rey sobbed. There wasn’t a single bit of green left in the room. Every leaf, every plant, every flower was utterly dead. 

 

“He helped me become the monster that he always thought I was.”

 

Rey looked down to where his hands gently—why so gently?—held hers. Her once kind, gentle hazel eyes filled with fury, and she dropped his hands roughly and pointed to the door that suddenly flew open to the yellow lit hallway. “Get out!”

 

Ben stood, breathing raggedly. He stalked to the door, and he leaned heavily against the door frame. “Did Han tell you anything?” he whispered.

 

“No. But you told me everything,” Rey hissed, closing the door, forcing him into the loneliness of the hallway.  

  
  
  



	4. Chapter 4

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Goblins and Ghosts

Ben awoke much later than he normally did to the shocked voices of Maz and Rose and Finn right outside his door. He rubbed his eyes as he tried to make out the conversation.

 

“I just found it this way,” a distressed Rose explained.

 

“Everything’s dead,” Finn’s voice marveled.

 

Ben blearily tried to make out the time on his bedside clock. 10? Was it 10 am? He blinked the sleep from his eyes. Definitely 10 am. He usually had such a good sleep routine. He rarely slept in so late.

 

“Such a pity. We’ll have to replant some new things. Sad to lose them.” Maz’s tone was certainly sad but not nearly as upset as Rose’s or Finn’s. 

 

Ben got out of bed stiffly and glanced at the circle of candles he had left on the floor. He had been exhausted after his encounter with Rey, and he had tried to seek more knowledge about who she had been in life. Ben’s magic had given him no answers to who or what Rey was. This most likely meant that she was magic herself. He yawned and waved a hand, and the candles flew to their respective places, leaving a fading chalk circle on the dark hardwood floor. 

 

“I’ve got to get to bed, Maz,” he heard Finn say, “but I’ll help you plant new ones when I get up.”

 

“No worries, Finn Samuel. I’ll need to go to town, anyhow. Get some rest.”

 

“Sleep good, Finn,” Rose called after him.

 

“Thanks.”

 

“Are you busy today, Miss Rose?” 

 

“Just getting ready for school, Maz. It starts up in a few days. But I’d love to go with you to get more plants”

 

The sound of the green room door closing punctuated the words.

 

“That’d be lovely, dear. I’ll be down in a moment.”

 

“Alright, Maz. I’ll grab the grocery list.”

 

Rose’s footsteps bounced down the stairs. Ben scratched the back of his head, wondering if Maz was still there. Maz answered that question. She was promptly banging on the door, and Ben stumbled backwards.

 

“Ben Solo! Open this door!”

 

He winced as he turned the door handle.

 

Maz stormed in, pointing up at his chest, seething behind her thick glasses. “What did you do? I told you not to disturb her! She’s killed all her plants! Those were the only things protecting this house from the powers that be, Ben Solo!”

 

Ben blinked at her fury, but he regained as much composure as he could after just having woken up. “Maz, she needed to know the truth!”

 

“That she’s dead? That she’s stuck in limbo until her body and soul are put at peace?” She put her hands on her hips and glared into his room, catching sight of the faded chalk circle on floor. 

 

“I’m sorry, Maz,” he began, promptly cut off with even a greater fury.

 

“What evil are you bringing into my house, child!” she nearly screeched. She surged forward, snatching his bath towel from the hook on the wall. She furiously scrubbed all traces of last night’s magic from the floorboards. “How dare you bring darkness into this house.” 

 

“I have it under control.”

 

“You didn’t have Rey under control.” She stood to her full height of 4 foot 10 and glared at the witch. “This is a safe house. This is a sanctuary, a place of refuge. Not just for me, boy, most definitely not for me. I’m the caretaker of this house and these souls, and now I care for yours. I will not allow you to put all of my charges in danger, including yourself, boy.”

 

“No one cares for my soul. It’s too long gone to be saved.” His voice held a sleepy venom dripped over a mound of hopelessness. 

 

“It’s not too late, but you cannot endanger my household. No more of that.” She thumped his stomach as she passed by him, but she paused in the doorway. “We are family here, Ben Solo. There is trouble brewing. You had better make ready for it. None of my charges can fight it like you.” She gave Ben no opportunity to answer as Maz left down the hall and down the stairs.

* * *

 

Ben’s Introduction to American Literature class was a typical first year community college class. The room was filled to the brim,  and everyone was there because it was required. Right in the front row sat Rose Tico and Finn Samuel. Finn was propping his head up, and Ben was reminded of Finn wandering home that morning after a full night shift. The poor young man had fallen asleep on top of his pancakes. 

 

Ben started handing out the syllabus and began explaining everything very simply. He remembered his first college classes, and he couldn’t expect these students to jump straight to lessons on the first day. 

 

“So, this is where all my class has gone,” an oily voice sneered from the doorway.

 

“Thank you for showing me the way, Mr. Hux,” a girl insisted as she sidled around the man to join the class. 

 

Ben held out a syllabus to the girl. “I do believe this is all my class, Armitage. I did inform Amilyn that the numbers did indicate that I would need more desks.”

 

He chuckled. “So unseasoned. By week three, you’re going to be left with five students and an attendance problem.” Hux turned to the students. “I don’t expect to see very many of you go very far in your education. The world will crush your souls, and you will trade your learning for your very survival.”

 

“I believe you said you had a class?”

 

Hux smirked and nodded. “There are two intro classes. If you’re supposed to be in Introduction to American Literature, you’re in the right place. If your schedule says Introduction to English Language, you’re supposed to be in my class, and you can follow me down the hall.”

 

A few students shifted and shuffled as they fished for their schedules. Ben surveyed the class, and his eyes were drawn to Rose and Finn. Rose was running her finger down her class list and relaxed when she saw she was in the correct class. She peeked over at Finn’s schedule, and she tugged it out from under the syllabus. Finn shifted, too tired to really bother. A few students stood up and made their way to the door to follow Hux. Rose’s shoulders fell.

 

“Finn, you’re in Hux’s class,” Rose whispered. 

 

He sighed and wearily shoved the papers into his bag. “See you after class, Rose.”

 

“You should transfer,” Rose insisted.

 

Finn shrugged. “I’ll be alright, Rose.” He wandered out behind 

 

Ben watched as his class thinned, and he closed the door behind them. “What the hell was that about?”

 

Rose answered, staring straight at the chalkboard. “Nobody wanted to take Hux’s classes after rumors spread that he was the one who killed…” she took a deep breath and continued, “Professor Tico.”

 

Ben went to her desk and awkwardly patted the top of her head in a feeble attempt at comfort. “Do you need a moment?”

 

Rose shook her head and waved away his hand, giving an awkward laugh. “I think I’ll be okay, ProSo.”

 

He nodded and returned to explaining the syllabus. 

* * *

 

Ben zoned out that evening as he drove home to Maz’s, tuning out the AM talk radio station he had playing. He turned into the long driveway, and he had already parked and shut off his car when he realized that Maz was having a full screaming match from the front porch with an absolutely bulbous man standing on the walkway in the center of the unkempt yard.

 

“She’s mine!” the man warbled.

 

“If you come one step closer, blob man, I’ll blow your head clean off!” Maz brandished a shotgun at him.

 

Ben was out of the car in an instant.  “Is there a problem here?”

 

“This doesn’t concern you,” he sneered through his pig nose.

 

“It appears that my landlord doesn’t want you here, sir. I suggest you leave.”

 

“What are you gonna do? Call the cops? They can’t do anything to me. I’ll leave when I’m right and ready and once I’ve got what I came here for.”

 

Ben stalked through the overgrown lawn. The September air was thick and hot, and his stride through the knee high grass and the damp atmosphere created an electric crackle. His normally smooth curls came to life as they filled with static. He loomed over the man, more than a head taller. “And what did you come here for?” Ben sneered, his eye twitching.

 

“Nothing you can give me,” he spat. “My business is with her.” His bloodshot eyes flicked over Ben’s shoulder, but not up at Maz, up to one of the upper windows.

 

Ben turned to follow his gaze, and Rey’s frightened face peaked through his bedroom window. “Her?”

 

“You can see her?” The pig-man snorted. “She’s mine.”

 

Ben immediately slammed his fist into the side of his sweaty face, throwing the trespasser to the ground.

 

“Ben!” Maz barked.

 

He was already kicking the felled man in the stomach and chest. “You will not lay a hand on her,” he swore with each blow to the thick flesh.

 

“And you can?” he wheezed. He caught hold of Ben’s ankle as a particularly hard blow sunk deep into his stomach. Ben couldn’t pull his foot back from the indent of stomach rolls and dirty denim overalls. “Power,” another wheeze. “Powerful boy.” Ben’s ankle sunk deeper into the sweating belly. “Delicious,” the man rasped and licked his lips.

 

“If you’re going to use your magic, Solo, now would be the time!” Maz shouted, fumbling to get a shotgun shell from the deep pockets of her muumuu. 

 

Ben reached out his hand and forced all of the man’s airways closed.

 

He laughed, and his stomach sucked in more of Ben’s leg. “You’re no match for my appetite.”

 

“Why are you still breathing?” Ben snarled and willed the vile skin to smooth over the rolls of the man’s mouth and cover his nose and start to mold over his eyes, all reminiscent of soggy, homemade clay.

 

“Goblin, Boy! Deep rooted Southern glutton goblin!” Maz shouted before she shot a magnificently fantastic blast straight through the blob man’s fat head. 

 

A wild scream whistled from the hole in the mushy clay-flesh, and it retreated from Ben’s leg. If Ben wasn’t disgusted and horrified, he would have laughed at the ball of fat flopping down the cracked stone walkway like a deflated dodgeball dressed in denim overalls.

 

“That, Ben Solo,” Maz breathed heavily, “is why Rey is under my care.”

 

“What was in that shot that scared him off?” He shook his leg, wincing at the sweat dripping from his slacks. 

 

“Iron, rock salt, consecrated oil, holy water, and Italian salad dressing.”

 

“Italian salad dressing?”

 

Maz laughed. “You’re not the only witch in this household, Solo. The question is, are you a good witch or a bad witch?”

 

“What if I said bad witch?” He ran a hand through his static filled hair. The electricity crackled over his skin.

 

“I’d say look again.”

 

Ben was suddenly reminded of Rey, and he looked up at his now empty window.

 

“She saw you, Ben Solo.” 

 

“But she hasn’t spoken to me since…”

 

“You like the girl.” 

 

Ben bent over and pointed angrily at her. "You think I like that delusional spirit? She can rot for all I care!”

 

Maz laughed right in his face, though it was the kindest chortle he had ever heard. “You keep telling yourself that.”

* * *

Ben cradled the succulent in the mason jar, studying the way the strange leaves petals in a calming symmetric pattern. The moon peeked through his window, and he looked up, wondering how long he had been sitting there, enraptured in the bit of Rey’s magic. He found it poetic that it kept so well in a mason jar, sweet and alive, preserved like canned peaches. His heart fluttered and his ears flushed and he scolded himself for catching a longing for her, for Rey.

 

He returned his attention to the succulent, and he traced a finger over a smooth edge. 

 

“Why did you call me here, Ben?” Rey sighed. Her image had appeared in the middle of his room, arms crossed. 

 

“I didn’t mean to,” he whispered. “But I’m glad you’re here.” 

 

“I’m not. I don’t want to speak to you.”

 

Ben looked down to the plant in his hands. He was grateful the little life was connected to Rey. “You don’t have to speak to me. I’m sorry I upset you.”

 

“You’re not the one who’s dead.”

 

“I want to help you.”

 

“How? By doing the same thing to my soul that you did to your father’s?”

 

Ben knew she was angry, knew she wanted to make him angry, too, but he was too focused on her to feed his own pain. “By helping you move forward.”

 

Rey stepped backwards. “I don’t want to go.”

 

“No, no, no,” He shushed, reaching out to her. “Not like that, not moving on.”

 

“Like what then?” She moved away from his outstretched hand. 

 

“You’re stuck, Rey. You’re trapped. By that monster, that came this afternoon. I want to break your ties with him.”

 

Rey shook her head. “I can’t. My parents...”

 

“Who is he, Rey?”

 

“Unkar Plutt.”

 

“Why did he say you belonged to him?”

 

“I belong to no one.” She blinked out of sight. 

 

Ben cast his eyes around his room, feeling very alone. He set Rey’s succulent back on his bedside table and turned to view his bookshelf. 

 

The shelves were full of books Ben found important: ones he used for classes, ones he used for magic, ones he kept for nostalgia. He wasn’t looking for a book, though. 

 

There were several sets of stones carefully placed among the shelves. His main set rested at eye level. He had heard the garnets call out to his soul, and he had answered. His set was not what he needed right now. 

 

He reached out to a set of plain topaz in a dull brown. They sparkles in sunlight, but were absolutely unremarkable in artificial light. When he found himself attracted to them in this moment, he snatched his hand back. “Not you,” he whispered, hardly making a sound. 

 

He looked up to the top shelf where a set of obsidian stones reflected the lamp light. He raised his hand, and the pretty rocks floated to his palms. “Grandfather,” he uttered. “I need your guidance.”

 

He turned his back to the bookshelf and stared longingly into his empty room. It was always like this when he tried to commune with his grandfather’s spirit. He willed his ancestor near. The first flicker was always weak, hardly a shadow before a blink out of the corner of his eye. Then, the dark would solidify a little, and Ben would be staring at the back of the grandfather he wished he had known in life. This time was no different. 

 

“Grandfather.”

 

Just as every time before, he would turn, and the glimpse of a young man’s face with bright eyes would disappear under a mask of the sad old man. 

 

“The girl. What do I need to do?” Ben begged. 

 

The words slammed into the spirit of Anakin Skywalker. It washed the shell of Vader from his countenance, just for a moment, deep in his eyes. 

 

“Where is she? Padme,” Vader’s cold crackle shocked Ben. Through all the years of summoning his Grandfather’s spirit, he had never spoken. He never communicated with Ben. Sometimes he never even turned around. But he continued.  “Where is Padme?”

 

“Who...?” Ben faintly recognized the name. Where? He shook off the confusion. He could not waste this chance to really talk with him now that he was talking back. “No, Rey. How can I—”

 

“She’s gone. I lost her,” his grandfather groaned. Ben’s words meant nothing to this aching soul. The pain of the loss from so long ago completely consumed him. It left no room for other emotions to be felt. 

 

“Who is Padme?” Rey’s trembling voice asked at Ben’s elbow. She was sobbing, a fist hovering over her chest as if to comfort her own saddened heard. 

 

“Gone. She’s gone.” Vader nearly howled, reliving the suffering his soul remembered and could not forget. 

 

Rey started to walk towards him, reaching out to comfort him, but Ben caught her wrist. She was always so solid to him. Vader disappeared, and the obsidian clattered to the floor. 

 

Rey looked back at Ben. “Who was that?”

 

“My grandfather.”

 

“What made his soul ache so deeply?” 

 

“That Padme...”

 

She nodded and looked down at his hand around her wrist. Her cheeks were still wet with tears. He gently tugged on her arm, inviting her to come closer. He gasped as she took the invitation, pressing into his arms, setting a wet cheek on his chest, arms around his ribs. He tenderly let his hands rest on her back. 

 

“I felt it, all of his pain,” she sobbed. “He hurts so much.”

 

“I never heard him speak before,” he barely breathed. 

 

“Why did he speak now?”

 

Ben felt his ears burn and his cheeks blush. “I asked for help...for you...”

 

“I don’t need—,” she began, then cut herself off, burying her face into his button down shirt. 

 

Ben held his breath and wondered if he had said the wrong thing. She slowly leaned back, and she focused on his chest. She set her palm where she had been listening to his heart beat. Tears still tumbled down her cheeks. She wrinkled her nose and her eyebrows, and her frigid hand sunk into him. He gasped at the cold, and he took shallow breaths, trying to understand what she was doing. It was clear when he felt her fingertips brush his racing heart. She looked up at his face and he stared back into her eyes and he felt her take his heart in the palm of her hand, literally. 

 

“You...care about me?”

 

He nodded, knowing no words could fit the situation. 

 

She slowly pulled her hand from his chest, noting that the moonlight fell on them from the window. The lamp gave her a yellow hue, and she felt for a moment like the aged gauzy curtains Maz hung at every window as she could see hazy shapes through her arm. She let her hand rest on Ben’s chest. 

 

“You can’t die.” 

 

Ben shook his head. “I cannot.”

 

“And you want to love me?”

 

“I don’t want to. I do love you.”

 

“You are cruel to love the dead when you can never die.”

 

And she was gone. The space in his arms was empty. And he felt himself take a seat on his bed, wishing she would come back. What he hadn’t said was that he felt it too, all her pain, all her compassion for him when she had brushed her soul against his heart.  


	5. Chapter 5

Life calmed down as the semester got underway. Ben settled into a scheduled routine. He taught his classes. He went to the faculty meetings where Amilyn informed him of glowing reviews and where Hux jeered his own superiority over the other teachers. 

 

Ben kept his home routine simple and kept an eye out for Rey, but she didn’t appear very often. Once in a while, he would get a peek of her disappearing into her green room as he was coming up the stairs. He sometimes ran into her in the kitchen on a quiet morning, and he would ask how she was doing. She always said ‘fine.’ Then she would leave the room. He would look after her, and only once did Maz walk in on him staring at the doorway she had walked through, and she would give him a knowing look.

Ben had dinner with Maz and Finn and Rose a couple times a week. Rose would chatter about her ever increasing activities. She was trying to distract herself, but late at night, when he was waiting for Rey or some other spirit, he would hear Rose crying in the room above him. Maz would share stories and bits of gossip she had picked up in town. She occasionally mentioned to Ben in hushed tones that the dirty goblin had been roaming the streets while Ben was away at work. Those nights, he would roam the perimeter of the property, sprinkling a homemade mix of salt and garlic and magic. Whenever Finn joined dinner, he was drowsy and miserable. When he did speak, it was about some punks causing trouble at work or about the struggle of balancing school and work and sleep. Ben had noticed Finn’s stress more and more. When he was preparing for his day, Finn was just getting in from work. When Ben was coming home from his night class, Finn was walking out the door. Saturdays, he usually found Finn fast asleep in an overstuffed armchair in the sitting room with a textbook on his lap. 

 

This particular night in early October, at dinner, Finn was on the verge of tears, and Ben saw. As Rose chatted to Maz about the plants they were replenishing in the green room, Ben leaned over to Finn and spoke a little softer, so they wouldn’t draw the ladies’ attentions.

 

“Finn, when you first came to the house, did you receive a plant?”

 

Finn frowned at his mashed potatoes. “I’m not sure. There’s a spider plant hanging in my room, but I don’t remember where it came from.” He looked up at Ben. “Did you?”

 

He nodded. “A succulent. It’s grown on me.”

 

“Was that a joke?”

 

Ben smirked and winked. “How is Hux’s class? As horrible as everyone says?”

 

“Worse! He’s not a teacher. He’s a power seeker. He doesn’t care if we’re learning. He just cares that his class statistics are showing that he’s a good teacher. He belittles everyone. A girl left crying the other day, and she got written up for insubordination. She was just arguing that her punctuation was correct. He yelled at her for using semicolons.”

 

“Has anyone reported him?” Ben asked, cutting one of his boiled carrots in half with his fork.

 

“That’s the worst of it. We all have stellar grades. His notes and reports all speak highly of us, nothing like what he says to our faces. A couple girls asked Holdo about it, but with his notes, it’s our word against his, and nobody’s had a chance to record him acting like that. It seems like he knows when someone’s recording, and he’s civil when anyone tries.”

 

“Has he acted like this towards you?”

 

Finn’s eyes narrowed, and he nodded. “I asked Holdo if I could switch classes. Yours is full.”

 

“I’ll have a talk with Amilyn about it.”

 

He would not have a talk with Amilyn Holdo about it, at least not anytime soon. Kylo Ren knew he himself was a powerful witch, and if he could do anything, he could ensure that this young man who was working so hard could get some rest and some good things in his life.

* * *

That night, as the crescent moon rose, Kylo Ren sat cross legged in his protective chalk circle, notated with the proper runes, marked with candles and his personal set of garnet colored crystals. He poured over one of his books filled with magic and incantations. He found the bits and pieces he needed, scrawling the wording onto a scrap of lined paper. The corner of his lips quirked as he fell into a comfortable humming, setting out how to properly recite the latin.

 

“You’re not asking for my help, child?” the demon Snoke’s hiss fell in Ben’s ear.

 

“No, I am not. I can do this much,” he uttered softly. At the pinch of pain in his ear, he added, “Master.”

 

“Are you quite sure, my boy?” he chuckled, settling into a seated position in Ben’s wheeled office chair. 

 

“Yes, Master. It is a small simple spell.” 

 

“For the girl? The little ghost?”

 

Ben shook his head, setting the patch from Finn’s night guard uniform on the little clay plate. It had fallen loose from Finn’s jacket, and Ben had picked it up off the foyer floor.  “My magic has no bearing on her, Master. She has power…beyond my own…”

 

“A challenge!”

 

“No, Master Snoke. She is to be left alone.” Kylo Ren continued, mixing a combination of lavender and bergamot and chamomile in his little clay bowl. 

 

“And why is that? Why will you deny yourself?”

 

“There are other powers at work there, Master. I cannot trespass them now when I do not know the full extents.” He set fire to the mix of flower and oil in the bowl, and he held Finn’s uniform patch in the tendrils of smoke.

 

The semisolid mist of Snoke chuckled. “As you wish, my boy.”

 

“Now, I have an incantation to recite,” he said pointedly, looking up at his demon master.

 

“Go ahead,” Snoke said with a rolling motion of his hand, “if you are sure you don’t want me to assist you.”

 

“This is not worth the price you would have me pay.”

 

Snoke wheezed as his form stood. “I suppose you are being wise.” He moved towards the door, crossing behind Ben. He paused and set his fingers through the dark curls at the base of Ben’s neck. “Yet you are still such a child. You will surely cause pain, Kylo Ren, without my guidance.”

 

“I know what I am doing, Master.” Ben hated the weakness, the child like whining he heard in his voice.

 

“I’m sure you think you do,” was the last hiss before the demon returned to whatever realm he spawned from.

 

Ben gasped as the tension dissolved. He took another deep breath to try to remove the demon’s cold touch from his memory. A tear slowly fell over his cheek, and he shook his head, working to recenter himself. He nodded as he felt calm began to seep back into his soul, and he began his latin incantation set to give Finn Samuel some rest from his worries. 

 

The thing about witchcraft, as far as Kylo Ren had learned, was that it was straight forward in either procedure or result and nearly never both.  

* * *

 

Ben gave his students a worksheet the next day, and simply said, “I’ll be back in a bit. I need to talk to another teacher. Until then, Miss Tico is in charge. No wild parties.” He smiled at the round of chuckles as he closed the door. 

 

He strode through the hallways quickly, intent on seeing exactly what Hux was up to. 

 

When he reached the end of the hall where Hux’s classroom was, Ben stepped into the alcove just beyond where a few chairs and a table were set. He took a seat and fidgeted with the knobs on his wrist watch, setting the hands on 12 and 6. He blew a steady stream of air over the face of the watch and watched as his wrist and arm and fingers became invisible, knowing that the rest of his body was following suit.

 

He returned to the door and peeked in through the little grated window set into the door. It was a third the size of Ben’s class. The students sat in little pods, not letting anyone sit by themselves. Ben whispered a spell to himself,  and one of the boys in the back of the class stood and dashed out of the classroom, mumbling something about it being an emergency. Ben slipped in through the door as the boy left. A boy at the back of one group fidgeted, and he pulled his phone from his hoodie pocket, trying to keep it hidden from Hux but still get a decent recording. The teacher was already mocking how rude it was to run out on a lecture, emergency or not. Ben slid into an empty corner, listening to the mocking, and he made a note of which boy was trying to record Hux.

 

A woman with sunken eyes and a miserable mouth and a limp appeared and stood behind the group, glaring back at the front of the classroom. Hux looked at her straight in the eye, and his gaze dropped to the boy in front of him. “Mr. Wexley, I believe there’s a no phones policy you agreed to in the syllabus.” 

 

In a moment, the boy slumped and defeatedly shoved his phone back into his pocket. The ghost moved around the room, and a glitter of a necklace caught Ben’s eye. He knew the shape. 

 

“Paige Tico.” His surprise only caught the nearest student’s attention who promptly shook her head and returned to her note taking. 

 

Ben hovered by the door, knowing that the boy would be back any moment. When he was, Ben was running then back to his classroom to retrieve Rose. He threw open the door, and the class jumped. 

 

“Must have been the wind,” one commented, standing to close it. 

 

Ben rolled his eyes, took a couple steps back and turned the hands of his watch to release the invisibility spell. He stepped back into the doorway, scaring the student who had gotten up. 

 

“Rose? Can you come with me, please?”

 

“Sure, ProSo?”

 

Once they were out of earshot of the door, Rose asked, “what’s this about?”

 

“Your necklace, you and your sister had matching ones?”

 

“Yes? But she...was buried with hers...?”

 

Ben nodded. “I’m sure. Very sentimental.” Ben stepped into the study alcove near Hux’s classroom. “I’m going to let you in on a secret Rose. I’m a witch.”

 

Rose blinked and then snorted and giggled. “You mean a warlock or a wizard or something?”

 

Ben smirked at her. “Very different magic. But, I’ve run into someone that I think we both will want to speak to, and I need your help. May I?” He pointed to her necklace. 

 

Rose crossed her arms over her chest. 

 

“Only for a moment and then it will be back around your neck.”

 

Rose hesitantly unclasped the chain and held it out for Ben. He respectfully took the charm in his palm, letting the chain fall off to the side so it wouldn’t tangle. It was a pretty golden crescent moon. 

 

Ben took his other hand, his first two fingers extended and whispered “Venit ad nos.”

 

The result was instantaneous. 

 

“I don’t speak Latin,” Paige Tico told Ben, stepping through the wall. She looked to her sister who still could not see her. 

 

“Revelare mortuis.”

 

Rose caught sight of something out of the corner of her eye and turned to fully look at Paige. “This is some sort of trick,” she murmured. 

 

“No trick,” Ben said, reclasping the necklace around Rose’s neck. 

 

She surged forward to try to hug Paige but fell right through.

 

“I’m sorry,” Paige whispered. “I’m sorry I left you alone.”

 

Rose shook her head. “I’m okay. I miss you so much.”

 

Paige smiled. “I miss you, too.”

 

Rose’s happy face suddenly turned to a glower. “Did he really kill you, Paige?”

 

The little bit of light in her eyes fled. “Horrifically.”

 

Ben set a hand on Rose’s shoulder. “Hux.”

 

“Murderous lying snake,” Rose hissed. “I’m gonna kill him.”

 

Ben’s hand on her shoulder tightened. “Not during school,” he cautioned. 

 

Paige nodded solemnly. “He’ll get his, Rose.”

 

Rose looked back at Ben. “You’re a witch, ProSo. You can get him?”

 

Ben frowned. He hadn’t been planning on exacting revenge for the girl: He just wanted to give the sisters a much needed reunion. “Paige, why are you here?”

 

Paige looked away from her sister. “I can’t…”

 

Ben looked at Rose. “I will do what I can to set this right. And to get you a proper reunion.” He placed a finger to his lips, and he performed his little invisibility spell over the little group.

 

The door to Hux’s classroom was thrown open, and Hux was stalking the hallway like he was on the prowl for a delinquent student. “Bloody ghosts, not coming when they’re called.” He reached into his suit pocket to retrieve Paige’s pendant which should have been around her neck in her grave. 

 

Ben clasped his hand over Rose’s mouth and put his other arm around her waist to keep her from tearing Hux’s throat out in that very moment. “We’ll plan our revenge at home,” Ben breathed in her ear, watching Paige’s ghost obey Hux’s summons.

 

“What the bloody hell, Tico? You don’t just walk out while I’m teaching.”

 

“I’m not your bitch,” Paige bit back. 

 

“You are and always will be,” he held the necklace out to make a point. “Now get back in there and make sure those slackers are my little pets.”

 

Paige spat at him, but she followed his orders. Hux stuffed the necklace back in his pocket and returned to his classroom. 

 

Ben slowly let Rose and the spell go. “We will take care of him, Rose, but I need you to stay level headed.”

 

She turned to look at him, tears starting to dribble down her cheeks. “You’re magic! Why can’t you do something now?”

 

Ben’s eyes turned sadder. “I’ll tell you at home.”

 

Rose nodded, clenching her fists. 

 

“If you need to leave, I won’t count it against you.”

 

She sighed. “I can’t go back into class like this,” she agreed, wiping her cheeks. 

 

“I can grab your bag?”

 

She laughed and looked down and sniffled. “That’s incredibly nice, ProSo.”

 

He nodded in return. “Maz has been adamant that we’re a family and that we take care of each other.”

 

Rose threw her arms around his middle. “Thank you.”


	6. Chapter 6

 

Ben finished his last class of the day, and he locked his classroom door, glancing out the window at the darkening red sky. Throwing his messenger bag over his shoulder, he stalked towards Armitage Hux’s office. There was still light that trickled through the glass in the door. Ben rapped on the door frame and opened the door without waiting for a response.

 

“Benjamin?”

 

“Just Ben, actually,” he corrected, shutting the door behind him.

 

“What can I do for you?” Hux put down his red grading pen and fiddled with the buttons on his sleeves. 

 

“I’m actually here about some rumors I’ve heard from students. I wanted to know what was going on so I could put an end to them.”

 

“What sort of rumors, Ben?” he asked, eyebrows lowering and lips pursing.

 

“There’s two actually, Armitage. I’ve heard that you’ve been...” he looked away, eyes glancing over the window that looked out over the parking lot, the wood-framed clock on the wall, the low bookshelf below the window, and the ancient leather armchair in the corner, “berating and harassing students. Making girls cry, insulting their intelligence, mocking their correct answers, and then covering this up in your notes and reports. We all have different teaching styles,” he held out the palm of his hand, stopping Hux from speaking, using a pinch of magic so he was not interrupted, “But there have been too many reports telling me you’re being disrespectful without cause.”

 

Hux stared, trying to get his mouth to do anything, but he couldn’t move at all.

 

“This rumor, I’m not looking to dispel. I’ve seen you do this personally.” Ben smirked as the last light from the sunset disappeared, leaving the low light of the desk lamp casting stark shadows through the room. He let his emotions trickle out: his hair moved though the air was thick and still. “I know after tonight, you will never deride or mock another student again.”

 

Hux’s hands flew to his throat as Ben, or properly Kylo Ren in that moment, used the forces of the universe to close his airways.

 

“Oh no, you’re choking,” he whispered before pulling Hux up from the chair and dumping him on the floor.

 

Hux could now breathe and coughed and sputtered.

 

“The other rumor, Armitage, is that you were the one who killed Paige Tico.”

 

“That is a lie.” Hux struggled to his knees, rubbing his throat. 

 

Ben held up a medallion to the light of the lamp. “I have proof that says otherwise.”

 

Hux’s already pale face drained of all remaining color. “What do you--,” he stood and caught sight of the little gold crescent moon in Ben’s hands. “Where did you get that?”

 

“The real question, Armitage, is where did you?”

 

“I will not respond to blackmail,” he growled, surging forward to retrieve the medallion.

 

Ben caught hold of his wrist and brought the man’s face close to his own. “Then how will you respond to an old-fashioned curse?” he whispered, pressing the medallion against the sensitive skin of the back of Hux’s hand. He screamed, and Ben listened to the sizzle of burning skin as the metal seared its mark into Hux’s pale flesh. Once satisfied, Ben released Hux, letting him crumple once more to the carpeted office floor. He pocketed Paige’s medallion and turned to the door. “Paige Tico’s spirit is no longer tied to your weak will, Armitage Hux. If I need to face you again, you will not be leaving this office of your own volition. I suggest that you make a penance to the girl you left without family, not that Rose Tico needs your pity. It will be good for your eternal soul.” He left, leaving the intense fear he had instilled to torment Hux on its own.

* * *

Ben left the Liberal Arts building of the small community college, glancing up at the darkening windows. Hux’s windows still had the glow of the lamp, and a flicker of pride played over Ben’s lips. He had done well. He could hardly wait to tell Rose and Finn that Hux would not bother them again. 

 

He strode across the parking lot, unlocking his car, and he glanced back up at the building. Lights were slowly going out. He glanced down at his wrist, tossed his messenger bag in the back seat, and shoved his sleeve up to look at the expensive wrist watch his mother had given him when he had finished his Masters Degree. The hands were resting just after 9:30 pm. The next time he looked up, students were flooding from the front doors. Ben was quick to start his car to get out of the parking lot before the other students flooded out. 

 

As he came even with the walk in front of the school, his headlights caught reflective patches on the back of a familiar jacket. Ben pulled his car closer to the curb as Finn and another young man unlocked their bikes from the bike racks. 

 

Ben rolled his window down and yelled, “Finn! Need a ride home?”

 

Finn spun at his name. “Ben! Yeah! Can my bike fit?”

 

Ben put the car in park, got out, and expertly, or magically, put Finn’s bike into the backseat. 

 

Finn’s friend waved and rode off, reflectors flashing on his wheels in Ben’s headlights before disappearing as he turned down a residential side street. 

 

“What class did you get out of?” Ben asked as they got into the front seats. He decided not to tell Finn just yet about his experience with Hux. He wanted to tell Finn and Rose at the same time. 

 

Ben chatted with Finn easily. It felt like Ben had a weight lifted off his chest after his encounter with Armitage Hux, and his lightness and ease filled the car. Finn reciprocated smoothly, talking about his classes, generals and a math class with Rose geared towards engineering.

 

“I think I’ll find some other field,” he laughed. “Rose has a brilliant mechanical mind. Me, not so much.”

 

“What do you want to do?” Ben queried, flipping on his blinker to turn. 

 

“The more I look at it, I’m probably going to end up in some Poli-sci or a social services sort of job. I spent a lot of time in foster care, in the system. It’s a miracle I didn’t end up in military. Came this close,” he said, illustrating his point with his thumb and forefinger nearly touching. “I played baseball in high school, but the only scholarships around here are for football. You’re not getting out of this town on a baseball scholarship. Anyway, army recruiters would show up at our games all the time to scout us out. One nearly got me to sign. I ran into Rose right then, and she talked me down from it. Told me it’d break my soul. She’s right. It would have. She’s got this saying, I think her dad got it in her before he died. She always says, ‘We win by saving what we love, not fighting what we hate.’ It really hit me, you know?”

 

Ben stared down the dark road, letting it sink in. “It does, doesn’t it?”

 

Hit them, it did. 

 

Time slowed for a moment as everything happened all at once. Ben hit a speed bump too fast, jolting them both and rattling Finn’s bike in the back seat. The bike jostled against Ben’s messenger bag behind his seat, crunching papers. A car came around a turn on a connecting side street, filling their field of vision with irreverent LED headlights. Ben turned his head away and towards Finn, who was twisting in his seat to make sure his bike was okay and wasn’t destroying someone’s homework. 

 

Finn squinted back at Ben, and his eyes widened, and he shouted, and the impact silenced everything. 

* * *

When Ben came to, his ears were ringing. His face was wet and cold. His head hurt, his body hurt. The LED lights were still blaring in his eyes, except they were moving away. 

 

It was dark now. 

 

His ears were ringing. 


	7. Chapter 7

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Everyone visits Ben in the hospital.

"You really can't die, can you?"

 

Ben tried to turn to look at who spoke, but he couldn't move. He couldn't see. He could feel, though. He could feel a dull aching at the front of his forehead. 

 

"Maz says you should be dead. The crash should have killed you."

 

He felt a gentle calm in his heart. Rey. It was Rey's voice and Rey's touch. It was just like when she touched his heart. It felt like that had happened a lifetime ago. 

 

"I'm here. You're not alone."

* * *

Ben tried opening his eyes, but everything was blurry and a dull white, everything he could see. One side was dark. His face felt itchy and stiff. He tried to scratch his face but was met with fabric, no, gauze, he could remember the word gauze. Gauze was on his face. It itched. 

 

"Woah there, you're not supposed to be awake yet," a woman's voice told him.

 

"He's massive. I told you he needed more anesthesia," a different woman replied. 

 

"Take it easy. Go back to sleep. We'll let you wake up once you're stitched up."

 

He went under again.

* * *

“Hey, Kid. I know you probably don’t want me here. Just needed to see how you were doing.”

 

Ben didn’t try to move this time. 

 

“I can’t stay. It’s getting kind of dark around here. It doesn’t want me here.”

 

Ben could practically see his father fidget with his pockets or belt loops and look away and shuffle. 

 

“See you around, kid. Don’t join me too soon.”

* * *

“You know why you’re alive, Kylo Ren. Don’t forget what you gave for your life, my apprentice.”

* * *

Everything hurt. He hurt everywhere. It was dull and achy and itchy. 

 

“He’s doing remarkably well,” a man said. “He shouldn’t be alive. I don’t know how, but he’s very much alive and looking to make a full recovery.”

 

“These are showing what again?” Maz asked. 

 

“Brain activity here. His skull on this one. This was the one we took right after he was brought in. Completely cracked open. Like an egg, to be graphic...”

 

“And he’s alive...” Maz’s voice trembled with wonder. 

 

“And waking up.”

 

Ben couldn’t stand the itch on his face. He could tell that he itched and was trying to rub his face, but he couldn’t quite feel his hand, or his cheek, or his teeth. Why couldn’t he feel his teeth? He heard the pair talking. He wasn’t sure he cared about what they were saying. He just wanted the itch off his face. 

 

“Ben, are you awake?” 

 

He felt a pat on his leg, and Ben opened his eyes to the bland ceiling tiles. He could only open one eye. The other was dark. His hand ran from skin to gauze and clumsily blocked his sight. He took his hand away and frowned at it. Was it his hand? Frowning hurt. His face hurt so bad. 

 

“Good to see you awake. How are you feeling?”

 

Ben opened his mouth, trying to form words, but it was thick and dry. 

 

“The anesthesia is wearing off. He’ll be in and out a bit. Let me know if he needs anything.” The man left to the sound of squeaky shoes on sterilized linoleum. 

 

“How are you doing, Ben?” Maz started. “You gave us all a scare. I called your mother. She’s headed down now.”

 

“Mom’s coming?” He murmured, though it hardly came out. His voice was so hoarse. “Did I die?” His words were slow and garbled.  

 

Maz took his hand in her own. They were soft and calloused and weathered and kind. “It’s a miracle you survived.”

 

“What happened?” He tried to look at her, but she was on his right side. Why was he moving his mouth? His whole head hurt so much. 

 

“Car accident. You were t-boned. Hit and run.”

 

Ben groaned. “LED headlights.”

 

Maz chuckled. “I hate them, too.”

 

“Finn!” He tried to sit up, but he was still light headed and immediately laid back down. 

 

“He’s asleep right now,” she informed, patting Ben’s hand. 

 

“Sounds like you’re waking up,” the doctor said, coming into the room with a clipboard full of paperwork. 

 

The doctor, a vaguely fish looking man named Ackbar, discussed what had happened, his injuries, the medication he was on, what had been done to save his life, and how they were all happy with his recovery. Ben didn't catch any of it. 

 

A knock sounded from the doorway. “I’m looking for Ben Solo.”

 

“Holdo?” Ben said, noticing how thick his tongue felt. 

 

Maz introduced herself, and Holdo set a large bouquet on the bedside table. 

 

“I heard from Rose first,” she told Ben, “but within minutes, your mother had me on the phone. How are you feeling?”

 

“Everything itches.” 

 

“He’s really just waking up,” Doctor Ackbar told them. “It will take some time for him to catch up. Especially with the pain medication he’s on. Don’t overwhelm him.” With that, he left the room.

 

“How long until Mom gets here?” He asked. His tongue felt like cotton. It felt like the thick southern air, like cotton. It was not romantic: It was uncomfortable. 

 

“A couple hours,” Holdo told him. She came around to the other side of the bed so he could see her. Maz still held his right hand. “I brought a few audio books. A little old fashioned with the CD player, but I thought you’d appreciate it.”

 

He attempted a nod. “My class?”

 

“Armitage will take over until you’re ready to come back.”

 

Ben shook his head immediately regretting it and instead held out his hand as if to stop her. "That man should be in prison for murder."

 

"Excuse me?" Holdo snapped. 

 

"He murdered Paige Tico."

 

Holdo sighed and gently pushed Ben's hand back to his side. "The investigation didn't turn anything up, Ben. We'll discuss this after you're back to work."

 

"Where are my clothes?" He slowly moved his head from side to side, surveying his room. 

 

Maz was up and looking through a bag labeled "Personal Effects" sitting on a nearby counter. "I can take these home and wash them for you. The blood is caked on..."

 

"Pants pocket."

 

"Left or right?"

 

"Left. My left."

 

Maz shuffled through his clothing, careful to avoid the bloodied sections of fabric. While she searched, clarity returned to Ben's mind. The medication was wearing off, the anesthesia and the pain. He winced as his head throbbed. 

 

"There's a necklace and some change," Maz said, bringing the contents over to the bed so Ben and Holdo could see. 

 

"I'm sure you recognize the charm?"

 

"Miss Rose's necklace."

 

"That one isn't Rose's." He turned his head slowly to look at Maz. "Where is she?"

 

"With Finn."

 

"Here? She can tell you. She can tell you who that belongs to, and where it should be."

 

Holdo set a hand on Ben's elbow. "If this is what I think it is..." She sighed and patted Ben's arm. "I will have Mitaka teach your class while you are gone."

 

"Thank you, Amilyn."

 

With the tension dissipating in the room, Maz escaped to go find Rose.

 

Ben groaned as his head thrummed and shut his eyes. "Is there any way to move Finn Samuel to my class?"

 

Amilyn shook her head. "We'll discuss all of this later, Ben. It can wait."

 

Ben resigned himself to looking up at the ceiling. "What happened to my face?" He reached back up to touch the gauze bandaging. "If I have to wear a mask from here on out, I'm going to have to start teaching The Phantom of The Opera."

 

Holdo genuinely laughed at that. "Of course you will."

 

Maz and Rose returned to the room, and Rose's face was soaked with tears. 

 

"I'm so glad to see you awake, Pro So."

 

"Me too, Rose. Can you tell us about the necklace?"

 

"Ben," Holdo scolded. "We'll discuss this later."

 

His headache worsened as he frowned. His eyes were drawn to Rose who was going to a whiteboard on the wall where much of his information was already marked down, his name, his injuries, things to watch for. She uncapped a marker and wrote "Get better soon Pro So!" in plain print.

 

"Thank you, Rose." 

 

She added a smiley face flanking the beginning and the end of the sentence. 

 

"It looks like a party."

 

"Hi, Mom," Ben greeted, turning his head towards the door, annoyed again by the gauze blocking his gaze. 

 

Leia Organa smiled at him in the only way a relieved mother could. She surged to his bedside, but she kept herself restrained from hugging him tight, instead taking his hand in her own. "How are you doing?"

 

"An awful headache, but I'm alive."

 

She let herself bend over and place a gentle kiss on the portion of Ben's forehead that wasn't bandaged. "I'm glad you're alive."

 

A nurse bustled into the room with a cart with medication on it, introducing herself and setting about adding medication to IVs. 

 

"You look really familiar," Rose sniffled, wiping tears from her cheek.

 

Leia smiled and nodded. "I suppose I would be. I am his mother."

 

Holdo laughed. "Who happens to be a senator."

 

Rose's eyes widened. "Organa. SenatOrgana. I wrote my history final on you."

 

"I'm flattered."

 

"Oh, I'm Rose. Rose Tico. I'm in your son's class. I also live at Maz's."

 

"Pleasure to meet you, Rose."

* * *

Once Ben's visitors were ushered out by the night nurse, he found himself contemplating how he had people who cared about him, how they came to see him and make sure he was okay. He wasn't used to the attention. The lights were low to reduce his headaches, and the door was closed, and the only noise was the beeping of the monitors he was still hooked up to.

 

Out of the corners of the room, the shadows collected into a near solid form of Snoke. 

 

"Master," Ben whispered, unable to bow his head as he normally would.

 

"Apprentice. You at last see the extent of my power."

 

"Thank you, Master."

 

"You have been taking things into your hands, my boy," he sneered, hovering at the end of the bed. "You see how well that ended."

 

"Snoke?"

 

"You don't understand? You are mine, Kylo Ren. Your power is because of me. Your success and your life belongs to me. If it weren't for me, you would be in your grave right now, young Solo, right next to your own father."

 

He said nothing in return, having nothing to say.

 

"You will have a speedy recovery, my boy," Snoke assured. "But this will come at a price. Your soul is not an easy one to tether to this Earth. I grow weary. There is a certain soul I would very much like to consume."


	8. Chapter 8

 

 

Rey watched as Ben’s mother came up the front walk of Maz’s room and board. She sat on Ben’s desk, looking out through his window. She had spent the day here, after she visited Ben in the hospital, near her little succulent she had gifted Ben. Her protection was here, so far away from him. She turned her attention back to the woman following Maz to her home. 

 

“She’s beautiful, isn’t she?” 

 

“Very,” she answered. 

 

“How is Ben?”

 

“Awake.”

 

“And his demon?”

 

“Not here.” Rey finally turned to look at Han, fidgeting just in front of the bookshelf. “Can she see us? Like Ben can?”

 

Han shook his head. “I don’t know.” He turned to look at the shelves, touching the set of brown topaz. “I haven’t seen her since...”

 

“Then go see her.”

 

“She doesn’t want to see me.”

 

“How do you know?”

 

They didn’t have the opportunity to argue any longer. The door opened, and Maz motioned for Leia to enter. 

 

“I’ll go throw these in the machine,” Maz told Leia, showing the hospital bag with bloodied clothes, already turning to go back down the stairs. 

 

Leia slowly entered her son’s room. It was a man’s room now, but it was certainly Ben’s. She glanced at the bookshelf, and her eyes traveled over the titles and the sets of crystals. She came to the ones Han had touched, and she shuffled in her pantsuit pocket to retrieve a set of golden dice. She placed a kiss to the dice and set them beside the crystals. 

 

“You really think she doesn’t want to see you?”

 

Leia turned at the sound. “Hello?”

 

“She can’t see us.”

 

“But she can hear us.”

 

“I can...” Leia picked up a piece of brown topaz and cradled it in her palm. “Or maybe I’m finally going senile.”

 

“No, Ben can see us, too.” Han stood close to Leia.

 

“You’ve been keeping an eye on him? Even after...?” Leia raised her head to study the higher shelves, frowning at the dark obsidian stones on a high shelf. 

 

“Of course.”

 

“He did...didn’t he?” Leia pressed a fist to her heart, thinking of when she had lost her husband. 

 

“There’s still light in him,” Rey supplied. 

 

Leia set the crystals back on the shelf beside the dice. “Why did you never come to me?”

 

“I couldn’t.” Han tried to hug Leia, but she made no sign of sensing him. 

 

“I should have asked Luke. He’s always been able to do this sort of thing.”

 

Rey glanced at the open door as Maz made her way down the hall. 

 

“Leia, dear. This room across the hall is available.”

 

Rey frowned and followed Leia and Maz into her room. There were many repotted plants and the beginnings of sprouts, but nothing like what it was. 

 

“Maz, have you noticed...anything strange with Ben?”

 

“He’s been behaving, says please and thank you, keeps an eye out for his students.”

 

“No, more...supernatural.” Leia set her bag beside the day bed and turned back to Maz. 

 

Maz smiled. “When as you’re as old as I am, you see the same eyes in different people. Ben has your eyes.”

* * *

 

 

“You can really hear me?” Rey asked late that night, sitting at the edge of the daybed. 

 

Leia was brushing out her hair and nodded. “I heard Han today, in Ben’s room.” Leia’s eyes traveled around the dim room. “I also heard yours. I don’t recognize your voice.”

 

“You can’t see me?”

 

“No, but I never have been able to. That’s not my expertise.”

 

“My name is Rey.”

 

“Hello, Rey, I’m Leia.”

 

Rey set a hand on Leia’s knee, and Leia jumped, moving away. 

 

“Did you feel me?”

 

“Yes. And see you.” She set her brush down and held out her hand. She couldn’t see Rey then, but she wanted to. 

 

Rey gently touched Leia’s hand again, and Ben’s mother stared straight at her, taking in her face. 

 

“How can I see you? What are you?”

 

“I’m dead, if you want to know. Han tried to touch you today. He went straight through you. You didn’t even shiver when he tried.”

 

“But you can touch me.”

 

Rey nodded. “Your son thinks...I’m something different.”

 

“How is he?”

 

“Gentle. Kind. He’s made a family here, with Finn and Rose and Maz.” Rey smiled. “And me. He keeps us safe here.”

 

Leia squeezed Rey’s hand. “Thank you. It’s comforting to hear.”

* * *

 

 

Leia stayed at Maz’s while Ben was in the hospital, but he was released much much sooner than anyone had anticipated. Within the week, he was coming home. 

 

Ben studied his face in the bathroom mirror. An angry scar snaked over his brow and eye and cheek and neck. They had removed the stitches the previous day, but the stitch marks were nowhere to be seen today. 

 

Leia had brought a set of clothes from his room to the hospital, and she shut the door behind her when she arrived. 

 

“Ben, the doctors are baffled,” Leia told her son, handing him the clothing. “They say you should be dead, you shouldn’t be out of here as soon as you are.” 

 

He shook his head. “It’s a miracle.” He took a seat on the edge of the bed. “Thank you for coming. It’s ...” he looked down, “nice to know you care.”

 

Leia wrapped her arms around his shoulders. “Of course I care. I’ve always cared.”

 

Ben did not argue, shoving his pain deep down. 

 

“I met Rey at the house.”

 

Ben tensed. 

 

“She cares about you.”

 

“I didn’t know you...could...”

 

“She’s more special than you know.” She stood up straight and patted his knee. “Go on and get dressed, and we’ll get you home.”

* * *

 

 

Ben’s heart raced all the way home in his mother’s shiny sedan. If she had met Rey, had she also seen Han? He had told Han to stay away, but it was more for Ben’s comfort. It still hurt to see his father after what he had done. Had she also seen Snoke? Had she known Snoke was there? Had she always known? 

 

Leia gave no hint that she did, but she was driving, and she was just happy that her son was doing well. 

 

“I do need to head back tomorrow, for work, but I’m glad you’re ok. Holdo is going to keep me updated, make sure you’re not overworking yourself.”

 

“It’s just teaching.”

 

“You know how you get, Ben. Or do I need to remind you of the time you brought a dead bird to your class? And impaled it? With a cane?”

 

“It was the Poe section! The Raven and the Telltale Heart. It was relevant!”

 

“And emotionally scarring for your high school aged students. You have no idea how many strings I had to pull to make sure you could keep your teaching license.”

 

“I’m grateful, but that’s also why I’m now teaching college.”

 

“That is actually because I pulled strings with Holdo.”

 

“Thanks, Mom.” He rolled his eyes, but he let himself smile anyways. 

 

“You’re welcome.” She laughed. “It sounds like you’re doing okay though, here. Maz enjoys having you around. Rose told me what you did for her and for her sister. Rey speaks highly of you.”

 

Ben looked at his mother. “What did Rey say?”

 

She glanced at him and then back at the road. “She says you keep them safe. That you’re gentle. Now I haven’t heard anyone call you gentle since before you bit your nanny.”

 

“I was four!” He didn’t pursue that any farther as he treasured Rey’s words about him. 

* * *

 

 

When they reached Maz’s and entered the kitchen, the other boarders shouted “Welcome Home!” Maz set out a cake decorated in pink frosting and yellow frosting flowers. Rose gave him a hug. Finn smiled from his place leaning against the kitchen counter. Rey stood with his father in the doorway leading to a back hallway toward the backyard. 

 

“It’s good to be home.”

 

“Yes it is, my boy. I told you, we’re family.” Maz cut into the cake. 

 

Leia nudged Ben. “Family huh?”

 

“You, too, Leia. You’re just as much family as your son.”

 

Rose giggled and handed her a plate of cake. “We’re all family at Maz’s.”

 

Ben took a slice of cake and hunkered down into a chair to enjoy it, letting his eyes wander to Rey who was now talking with Finn in the kitchen. 

 

“This really is your home, isn’t it?” Leia wondered. 

 

“It is. It’s my home.”

* * *

 

 

Ben expected his life to return to normal after that. It did not. He was glad to be out of the hospital and returning to work. 

 

The first class he had Monday morning, he walked in, and each and every student was standing on the top of their desk. 

 

“O Captain my Captain!” They chanted. 

 

“Who showed you Dead Poet’s Society?” He asked, not trying to hide his smile as he went to his desk at the front of the room. 

 

“Mitaka!” A boy informed him. “We heard about what you did to Hux! About what Hux did! No one has seen him since you were in that accident!”

 

Another boy stepped forward. “We heard about what you did for Miss Tico and her sister! You’re a hero, Pro So!”

 

A young woman smiled as she hopped down from her desk. “We’re your Knights of Ren. We’ll follow you anywhere.”

 

Ben froze and turned slowly to examine the students climbing down from their desks. “Where did you hear that name?”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> The bird and the cane thing is a reference to that SNL sketch with Adam Driver as Abraham h. Parnassus.  
> I also always wanted to have his students form a Knights of Ren for him.


	9. Chapter 9

His students had just declared themselves the "Knights of Ren." They were an order of knights under his name of power, the name the demon Snoke gave him, a name that none of them should have ever heard uttered. His heart was sinking and frozen and angry and terrified.

 

"Where did you hear that name?" Ben whispered, eyes traveling over his students. There was Rose in the front row, beaming at him. Finn sat in a back row seat, presumably the only free one. His class was still at capacity.

 

His students looked at each other, trying to remember where they had heard the name. "You are Kylo Ren, aren't you?" a boy asked.

 

"I don't know where you heard that," Rose giggled, turning to look at the boy. "He's always been ProSo to me."

 

"Professor Solo," Ben clarified. "I worked my butt off to earn my degree."

 

"We can't just call ourselves the Knights of Ben or the Knights of Solo," a girl with blue hair sighed, setting her chin in her hands. "It doesn't sound nearly as cool as the Knights of Ren."

 

Ben leaned against his desk and crossed his arms over his chest. "Look, I don't care what you call yourselves, but I'm not leading you on any crusades to bring justice to the galaxy or overthrow an empire. It is not my modus operandi--" a few hands shot up "--it's Latin for mode of operations, how I work. I appreciate your loyalty, but I'm only your teacher for a required English class. If you start attaching me and my name to a series of pranks and hijinks, it could seriously threaten my job and your educational careers. All I ask of you is to perform at your best while I'm your teacher. Clear?"

 

"As crystal," a girl next to the window nodded.

 

Ben started into his lesson, and he gave them a few minutes towards the end of class for them to ask for help with their essays.

 

As he was helping a girl with her noun verb agreement and citations page, he heard a few boys chattering about how they were still going to call themselves "The Knights of Ren," and how they thought ProSo's new scar was "so cool." He smiled but shrugged them off, motioning for the next student to come up to his desk.

 

"How are you holding up, Rose?" the blue haired girl sitting next to Rose asked.

 

"I'm doing alright."

 

"Are you going to join our study group tonight? Or are you going to go see Finn again?"

 

"I'm probably going to go see Finn. You guys can come with and study there. He needs the company."

 

"Were you two dating before...?"

 

"No, not officially. He was so busy with work and school. Whenever I saw him, he was exhausted. And I was still getting used to losing Paige. I mean, it wasn't the time, you know?"

 

"I hope you two do end up together," blue haired girl sighed. "It would be adorable."

 

Rose nodded and looked down at her paper. "We'll see how it turns out."

* * *

Ben was grateful that he didn't have a night class his first day back. He was able to get out of the school while it was still light out. It was hurtling closer towards Halloween, and the sun was going down earlier and earlier. He was not excited for the short days, but he was excited for the cooling air. The leaves were changing and falling, but the air was still thick while the sun shone.

 

Ben returned home with time to spare before dinner, and he headed up to his room. He turned the skeleton key in the lock and pushed the door open, glancing at his watch as he did so.

 

“Ben!” Rey cried out, and his eyes shot up to her. She was bathed in a square of evening light from his window, and she had herself pressed up against the bookshelf, heels up on the bottom shelf so her toes would stay in the sunlight.

 

"The child won't come any closer, Kylo Ren," Snoke purred from his perch on his bedpost, shrouded in shadow. He rolled his head on his wisp of a neck as he spoke, like he was a skeleton that was trying to work out his kinks.

 

"She's not yours, Snoke," Ben growled, reaching around Rey to a box on the top shelf containing several vials that any normal person would say contained essential oils. He unscrewed the lid of a vial and brandished it at Snoke. The demon immediately vanished. "Consecrated oil," he explained, recapping the vial. "You should be safe now."

 

"I'm stuck," she whined, moving to step away from the bookcase, showing that her hand was very much attached to a collection of colorless transparent crystals on the shelf. They were beginning to take on a blue tint. She suddenly stepped back to the shelf, staring at where the shadow was inching closer to her on the floor. "He's still here."

 

"Hold on," Ben nodded, struck by inspiration. He rushed to the green room across the hall, took a UV lamp that was shining on a thriving pot of flowers in a corner, unplugged it, and rushed it back to his room. He set it on his desk and plugged it in, brightening the entire room. There was a near imperceptible hiss as the remaining shadows in the corners fled. He adjusted the head of the lamp so that it shone across the entire floor. "There, better?"

 

Rey tentatively stepped away and nodded. Her shoulders visibly relaxed, and she turned back to look sadly at the set of blue tinted crystals. She tried walking away from them, but she jerked slightly as if she was tied to the end of a string.

 

"I'm stuck, Ben," she whimpered, starting to cry.

 

He came to her side and scooped up the entire set of crystals into his hands. There were five crystals, all glowing. Rey was able to walk a little further away but was tugged back.

 

"What did you do to me?" She glared, cheeks still as wet as a ghost's could be.

 

He wasn't looking at her. He was looking at the set of brown topaz that had gained the companionship of a set of gold dice on a chain. He shook his head and looked back at her.

 

“The crystals are...were unpaired. They attract energy, spirits. They help channel power. I use them in spell casting.” He raised his eyebrows as a thought crossed his mind. He strode to his bedside table and set the crystals around the succulent. “You’re right, by the way, about plants catching curses. I could never do any magic with this. I tried to bless your plants and your flowers. Never bore fruit.”

 

“Are you making a joke?” Rey sniffled, sitting on his bed beside him. She didn’t make a dent or a wrinkle.

 

He smiled gently at her and patted her knee.

 

“Am I stuck to them forever?”

 

He chewed on the inside of his cheek, thinking.

 

“Your father is stuck to the ones next to the dice.”

 

“He is. He’s...a power source.”

 

“For your demon.”

 

Ben shook his head. “I don’t let Snoke consume my father. Whatever you may think from what you saw, I never hated my father.”

 

“Snoke still wants Han.”

 

“He does.”

 

“He wants me, too, doesn’t he?”

 

Ben swallowed and nodded. “What were you doing in here?”

 

“I was curious about your crystals after Leia left Han’s dice here.” Her words were calming down, and her ghostly tears were drying up. “I didn’t know I’d get caught.” She grew agitated again. “If I can’t leave the crystals—.”

 

Ben tugged on Rey’s arm, and he brought her onto his lap. He was now kneeling with her held tight in his arms. He began to rock her like his mother used to rock him.

 

“He wants to eat me, Ben. He wants my power.”

 

Ben nodded. “I won’t let him.”

 

 

 

 

 

 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Finally reached the chapter this fic is named for!


	10. Chapter 10

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Rey's history is revealed, piece by piece.

When Rey had wandered into Ben's bedroom to look at the various crystals on his shelves, she was expecting to just peek in, look around, and be out. She had not expected to be drawn into the pure translucent set of crystals that were set at her eye level, waiting just for her in front of Ben's collection of different Beowulf translations. She hesitantly reached out to them, tenderly setting her fingertips against the cool crystal. 

 

She gasped, an instinct remembered from when she had been alive, from when she had had a physical body. Her memories were focused on the last time she had seen her parents. She was young. She was so so young. It was so long ago. 

 

"I can give you a wish for the girl," Unkar Plutt's voice slid through her mind. "What do you want for her?"

 

Her parents, faces that resembled her own, looked at each other in her mind's eye. They looked stressed, tired, rough. She wondered if she knew what that looked like when this happened. 

 

"Money," her father said, looking at her mother. 

 

"Money enough to last until the end of our lives," her mother clarified, looking at Plutt. 

 

The goblin chortled and stuck out his hand. "Agreed." 

 

They nodded, and her father took Plutt's greasy palm, her mother clinging to her father's chest as they sealed the deal.

 

Her mother fell to the ground first, faint and pale. Her father stared at Plutt, unable to pull away from his grip, color draining from his face, until his eyes rolled back, and he too fell to the ground. Both were dead. 

 

"Come along, girl," Plutt huffed, turning away. "Time to get to work."

 

Had she understood what had just happened right in front of her eyes? Had she understood that she now belonged to a greasy disgusting monster? Had she understood? In her mind's eye, she saw herself, a young child, being dragged by the arm away from her ramshackle home and bodies of her desperate parents.

 

She couldn't last too much longer in the vision. Someone had joined her in Ben's room.

 

"I see young Solo has brought you to me at last," Snoke chuckled, settling into a foggy form on Ben's bed, where he was safe from the sunlight pouring through the window. 

 

"Who are you?" Rey asked, trying to pull her hand away from the crystals. She couldn't move away.

 

The rest of the afternoon, Rey was trapped against the bookshelf as Snoke whispered about how he thirsted to taste her power, stalking the edge of the light. She had just had a vision of being sold for her power, whatever power that was, and she was now in eternal danger from a demon, she was sure that it was a demon, for the exact power that had left her an orphan.

 

She struggled to free herself, trying everything she knew, but the only thing that saved her and calmed her soul was Ben Solo coming home from work and her very own UV lamps that nurtured her plants. 

 

While Ben rocked her in his arms, she thought back over the experience. She tentatively raised her hand and set it over the beginning of his scar, the edge of his forehead. With growing precision, she pressed her soul into his and shared the vision with him. She had no words to explain, and so the memory was enough. 

 

She snapped her hand away from his forehead. His anger had manifested in a searing heat, and it hurt her. 

 

"You should have never been treated that way," he told her. 

 

"What am I, Ben? What sort of power do I have?"

 

He shook his head. "I don't know. But I won't let anyone take it from you."

 

"What about when Snoke comes back?" 

 

Ben held her a little tighter, grateful that he could touch her. It took a moment of thought, but he proposed an idea. "Can you re-pot your succulent? Into something bigger to include your crystals? That should give you some added protection...with the lamp, of course."

 

"I'm stuck to the crystals, Ben. You're going to have to help me."

 

He smiled and nodded. He stood and collected the crystals in his left palm, cradled the succulent in his right, and set about following Rey's orders. They found themselves a work space in the center of her greenroom, and Ben set about collecting pots and tools and dirt for her while she dug straight into the succulent pot with her fingers. It was an immediate comfort, surrounded by her plants and the UV lamps and the dirt and the life. She appreciated what Maz and Rose and Finn had done for her plants. The new plants were already growing beautifully. She sat cross legged on the hardwood floor, loosening the roots from the mason jar. 

 

"That's a good pot," Rey commented at the low wide clay one he had picked out. "The crystals and the succulent will fit just right. It's called a Hens and Chicks, by the way. It's nearly impossible for anyone to kill." She side-eyed him. "I didn't realize it matched you as well as it did."

 

"Aren't you glad I'm not so easy to kill?" he asked, kneeling beside her and opening a bag of soil.

 

"I do think the scar is a bit dashing."

 

Ben reached up and ran his fingers over it. He left a streak of dirt across it. 

 

She smiled but ignored the dirt, showing him how to replant the succulent in the new container. 

 

He let her finish and then arranged the crystals as the points of a pentagram with the succulent in the very center. "The blue suits you. It's calming."

 

"What color is yours? Or do you not have a set?"

 

Ben picked up the pot and stood to his full height. "I can show you."

 

They returned to his room, still lit by the UV lamp. The sun was setting now, and the sky was a deep red. 

 

Ben set the pot on his nightstand. "Can you reach the book shelf now?"

 

She tried walking to the shelf, and she sighed when her range had only increased by centimeters. "Why can your father move so far away from his crystals?"

 

He picked up a blue crystal from the pot and tugged her gently to the bookshelf, showing that she was now able to travel between them. "The crystals were attached at the moment of his death. You notice there's only three here. My mother has one, and my uncles each have one. You can move between the crystals. But with...Snoke and Plutt after you, I'd rather keep all of your crystals together. I'd rather not risk them getting a hold of one."

 

Rey glowered. 

 

"I know this is holding you back, this is suffocating. But I promise I will do all that I can to release you from these crystals."

 

"Who are you talking to, ProSo?" Rose peeked into his room from his open door, shifting her book bag over her shoulder.

 

Ben looked up at her. "Nobody."

 

Rey looked over at Rose. "She can't see or hear me. I've tried."

 

"Alrighty then. We did miss you in class. Mr. Mitaka really just put on Dead Poet's Society while he graded his own papers."

 

"Who came up with the whole 'Knights of Ren' business?" he asked.

 

She shook her head. "No clue. I wasn't in class when they decided. Speaking of, can I get an excused absence because I was visiting you in the hospital?"

 

Ben gave a single laugh and looked down at the crystal in his hand. "I think you can."

 

"You re-potted your succulent," Rose noted. "It looks nice. I like the crystals."

 

"Thank you, Rose." 

 

She started to leave but turned and leaned back against his door frame. "The tow company called about your car. They're taking it to Putt Putt's Automotive for repairs. I worked there last summer. I could come with you to look it over. The guy who runs it will rob you blind if you don't keep a close eye on his grabby hands."

 

"That's really thoughtful," Ben told her with surprised eyebrows. "I think that sounds like a good plan. When do they close?" He turned his wrist to examine his watch.

 

"They're open later than most. They're really the only mechanic shop in town. 8 o'clock."

 

"Do you mind if we go down there now?"

 

"Why not? I've got a study group later, so now's perfect."

 

Rey frowned, eyeing her potted succulent.

 

"Let me grab my laptop charger, and I'll be right back down."

 

"Great, I'll meet you downstairs." 

 

She dashed up to the next floor, and Ben turned to look at Rey.

 

"So, how are you going tote around my crystals? Or are you going to leave them here?"

 

Ben bit the inside of his cheek. "Okay, I'm going to give one to Maz for safe keeping, and I'll keep one in my pocket, and the others we can leave with the succulent under the UV light?"

 

Rey sighed. "I have a bad feeling about this."

* * *

Ben felt the crystal in his pants pocket, right next to his keys. Rose was driving in her ancient VW bug, chatting away about how school was going, and how her clubs were going, and how she was looking for proper work. Rey sat silently in the backseat, staring out the front windshield. She had decided to join Ben, knowing that she wouldn't be able to calm her fears if she was pacing in Ben's bedroom or hanging out with Maz as she watched her soaps. 

 

"Here we are," Rose announced, turning into a parking lot overrun with cars in various states of assembly and disarray. "Don't say anything stupid, ProSo. He takes eye contact as a challenge."

 

Ben raised his eyebrows again and followed her out of the car and into the office. 

 

And he froze. A familiar face was running a cash register at the front counter, telling a little old lady when her next scheduled oil change would be. The freckles and the hair were covered in grease and grime, and the coveralls were rolled down to her waist where the sleeves were tied around her waist, showing a toned tan body beneath a stained white tank top. 

 

"We'll see you soon," she bade goodbye, patting the lady on her hand before handing her the keys and receipt. 

 

"Hiya, Rey!" Rose chirped, bounding up to the counter. 


	11. Chapter 11

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Which Rey is the Witch Rey?  
> Ben and Rose go out for burgers.

Rose bounded up to the counter and started asking about Ben's car, but he didn't catch a word of it. This mechanic was Rey, he was sure of it. It was her face, her hair, her freckles, her eyes, her manner of movement, her habit of speech. 

 

"What do you want me for, Ben?" Rey's words beside him softened as she took in herself, alive and well, chatting with Rose. "That's me."

 

"It is you," he whispered. 

 

The Rey at the counter looked up at Ben. "Excuse me?"

 

That broke the spell. He stepped forward to come even with Rose. "Yes, I was told my car was brought in?"

 

She nodded. "That's what Rose was telling me. Ben?"

 

"Ben Solo," Rose nodded to Rey. "It's what, that navy BMW?"

 

"We don't get a lot of those in," Rey teased with a wink. "Where are you from?"

 

"DC."

 

"Ohhh, a city boy, huh?"

 

He glanced over his shoulder at Rey, his Rey, the one he could see through when she was distraught or caught in moonlight, the one covered in soil and foliage, not in oil and grease. She stared at the Rey, the one who stood before her in the flesh. The Rey at the counter didn't acknowledge the Rey at the door. Could she see her?

 

"Well, hun, we can go ahead and get that driver side door replaced, fix up that chassis, replace the windshield. I'll get you a quote." Ben hadn't been able to place it before, but Rey's normal proper English accent had morphed into a honeysuckle phony version of a Southern accent, suitable only for Southern Belles and truck stop waitresses. It turned his insides. 

 

"Are you alright, Sweetie? You look like you've seen a ghost."

 

"Ben Solo!" the gluttonous Unkar Plutt roared, waddling in from a back room.

 

He jumped and stumbled backwards, hand getting a brief chill as it went through Rey, his Rey's arm. She was fading with the shock of it all. He could see through her now. She wanted to run. He could see it in her face. 

 

"You dare come into my shop?" he warbled.

 

"My car was brought in?" Ben informed, glancing back at the Rey at the counter. "I need it repaired."

 

"And you think I'd let you bring your car in after you refused what's mine?" His eyes went to the Rey beside him and over to the Rey at the counter. "Or we could make a deal."

 

"No deals, Plutt," Rose interjected. "It's just a repair job. Looking it over, it's only got to be a couple thousand, parts and labor combined. No major damage. There doesn't need to be any deal made."

 

"Don't tell me how to run my business, Tico," Plutt sneered, wobbling over to Ben and Rey. "I'll take what's mine, and you can get your car all spic and span, or you can get your tail out of my shop for the price of the scrap of your car."

 

Rose looked between the men in horror. "He's not from around here, Plutt. I don't know what you're doing, but you could get the feds called on you."

 

"And you think I'm vulnerable to the feds? I'm too low for their kind."

 

"I think I'll be leaving," Ben said, taking a step back. "Keep the car."

 

"Ben! Don't give into him!" Rose insisted. 

 

"Let's go, Rose. I'll explain in the car."

 

Rose tried to protest, but Ben was already out of the shop and standing by her car door. The moment they were both in the seats, Ben turned to her and simply said "What can you tell me about Rey?"

 

Rose frowned but half smiled. "What? Do you like her or something?"

"No, Rose, magic. It's magic. What can you tell me about Rey?"

 

"Oh, okay, well, she's always worked for Plutt, like before I even met her. I don't actually know how old she is. I thought she was about Paige's age, but I don't really know. Um, Rey's really a sweetheart. Pretty sure all of Plutt's business is because of her. I've never seen her out of the shop, though. I invited her to hang out with me when we worked together, and she always said no, not that she wasn't nice about it. She just always made it sound like her home life was pretty busy. I don't even know her last name. It's always just Rey."

 

Ben threw a glance back at the building where Plutt was glaring through the glass door. "Let's get going. I'll buy you dinner. Your choice." He glanced into the back seat to make sure Rey, his Rey, was there, which she was. He ran a hand over his pocket, making sure the crystal was right beside his keys. 

 

"Okay, if you say so." She revved the engine and put it into gear. "You really do look spooked, ProSo."

 

"Have you ever seen Rey around the house?"

 

"No," she said, flipping on a blinker. "Do burgers sound good?"

 

"Yeah that's fine," he waved off. 

 

"I told you. I only know her from work. And that's really before I moved into Maz's. I lived with my sister up until she died."

 

"What about Plutt? What do you know about him?"

 

"Greasy disgusting man," she sneered. "I didn't mind the work. I hated him. He should go die in a ditch."

 

"How does he treat Rey?"

 

"She's his bread and butter. She's his income. He treats her fine, as far as I saw." She cast a sideways glance at Ben. "It's not like they're a couple or anything. He doesn't beat her. She's his employee. Everyone loves lil' ol' Rey of Sunshine."

 

"I don't remember how Plutt treated me," Rey whispered, fidgeting in the backseat. 

 

"How old is Rey?" Ben asked, glancing into the backseat.

 

"19," Rey answered.

 

"Oh, I know she was around Paige's age, at least," Rose rattled. "Must've been close to 30. But I've always been bad at telling people's ages. And she looks so young anyways. If I'd just met her today, I'd tell you she looked about my age. Like 19 or 20."

 

She turned into a little homegrown burger joint, with half the parking lot taken up by drive up order stations. A couple cars were parked with windows down, and a teenage boy on rollerskates zipped past them to a car at the end and rattled off a long order to them.

 

"Before you roll down the windows, I want you to look in the backseat," Ben said.

 

Rose quirked an eyebrow and turned to the empty bench seat behind her. "What am I looking for?"

 

“Revelare mortuis," Ben whispered. 

 

Rey became visible, and Rose opened her mouth to scream. 

 

Ben clasped his hand over her mouth. "Don't. It's just Rey."

 

"I can see through her," Rose whispered into his palm. He moved his palm down, and she repeated what she said.

 

"You can actually see me?" Rey asked. 

 

Rose nodded.

 

"I think...well, I thought she was dead," Ben told Rose. 

 

"It looks like I'm not."

 

"I mean...technically...dead just means...your spirit isn't inside your body."

 

"Then why am I not inside my body, Ben?" she spat, sitting forward, becoming a little more solid as her anger flared. 

 

"This is brand new information to me, too, Rey."

 

"So you don't know why the ghost of Rey is sitting in the backseat of my beetle?" Rose squeaked. 

 

"No," Ben and Rey said together. 

 

"Wait! Has she been haunting Maz's?" 

 

"I live there," Rey huffed, folding her arms over her chest. "I'm not 'haunting' Maz's. I have every right to be there. She knows I'm there."

 

"She lives in the green room across from mine," Ben said. 

 

"Maz knows you're there?" Rose suddenly got excited. "Can you see Paige?"

 

"Who?" 

 

Ben frowned. "I actually haven't seen Paige in a long while. Do you have her medallion?"

 

"In my room." Rose touched her own around her neck. 

 

"We can check on her when we get home."

 

"I've got that study group. Is it alright if I drop you off back at Maz's? Maybe check on her later?"

 

"Definitely." Ben nodded and then peered over Rose's lap at the menu through the driver side window. "So, what's good here? Let's make sure you eat."

 

Rose smiled and ordered for them, asking Rey if she could eat anything. She smiled and shook her head.

 

When she rolled the window back up for privacy, Ben continued. "As for Plutt, he's a goblin."

 

"He's a real monster of a man, I'll agree with you there," Rose nodded, turning back to Rey.

 

"No, Rose, literal straight out of a story, magical goblin." Ben's eyes were terrifyingly intense, and Rose couldn't maintain eye contact. "He came looking for Rey, my Rey," he gestured to the ghost in the back seat.

 

"I don't belong to you," Rey insisted. 

 

"For the sake of differentiating who is who, can you be my Rey?"

 

If she had her physical heart, she was sure it would have fluttered, but she just nodded. 

 

"Then the one in Plutt's shop can be the real Rey?" Rose offered. 

 

"But I'm the real Rey."

 

"How about Flesh Rey?"

 

Ben snorted. 

 

Rey flashed a glare.

 

"Okay, so, Plutt came looking for your Rey?" Rose tried to get back on track. "Why would he do that if he already had Flesh Rey?" Her eyes widened as a thought crossed her mind. "Wait, are you two a thing?"

 

Ben's ears grew red, and he looked to Rey with the biggest brown eyes, pleading for her to answer, afraid to confirm what he wanted. 

 

"He loves me," Rey whispered honestly, eyes lingering on Ben's.

 

Rose quirked a smile. "Do you love him back?"

 

"I want to."

 

Ben's eyes widened. 

 

"Well, I'll let you two figure that out. In the mean time, what does Plutt want with your Rey?"

 

"Everyone keeps saying I'm powerful...like I've got some sort of powers or abilities. I don't know what they are."

 

"I'm starting to suspect you were something like me," Ben mused. "When he came around Maz's, he said something about my power, too."

 

"So, Rey's not just a ghost, she might be the ghost of a witch?" Rose asked. She giggled. "That's just so cool!"

 

The carhop knocked on the window, easily balancing a tray of food and drinks while fishing out the receipt. Rose rolled down her window, and Ben handed his credit card to the teenager who traded the food for payment. 

 

"I'll be right back," he assured, skating back to the main building to run the card.

 

"So what are you going to do about your car?" Rose asked.

 

"Do you know when Plutt's not going to be there? I mean, I hate car shopping, and I'd like to at least get my things out. I can probably find a spell for the repairs myself, or have you give me a hand with the more technical aspects."

 

"I'm surprised you don't use magic more."

 

"Magic comes with a price, and not every price is one I'm willing to pay."

 

"Well, aren't you philosophical."

 

The carhop returned and handed the card and final receipt back. Rose thanked him and rolled up the window.

 

"I'd love to chat more about all of this, but I've got a physics test I need to study for," she said, putting the car into gear and holding her hand open for Ben to give her her burger as she pulled out and started heading back. 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Sorry, no cliffhanger this time. But there will be a new boarder at Maz's in the next chapter, if you wanna get hype about that.


	12. Chapter 12

Rose put the car in park at the curb of Maz’s house and raised her eyebrows at the bright orange and white Chevy Camaro parked beside the front hedges.

 

“Look’s like Poe’s back in town,” she commented as Ben was getting out. “Tell him I say hi.”

 

She waved to Ben and Rey who was fading back into nothing as Ben reversed the spell. Rose smiled and pulled a u-turn to head off to her study group. 

 

“I like her,” Ben said with a nod, turning to go inside. 

 

“She’s great. I wish we could—.”

 

Ben flashed her a glare. “Don’t wish for things, Rey. Too much magic around.”

 

She gave him a smile. “Alright alright. It would be nice if we were friends.”

 

“You are friends.”

 

They entered the house and wandered to the kitchen where Maz was chatting with this Poe. Tall and tan and windswept. If Ben was one to get jealous—he was getting better about that, he promised—he would be jealous of him. His leather jacket fit him like a glove, and his cocky smile reminded him of Han when he won a street race. Oh, his father would like Poe. Okay, now he was jealous. 

 

Poe turned to them, cradling a squirming kitten in his arms, rubbing its belly. “Hi! New boarder, eh?” His eyes traveled over Ben’s shoulder to Rey. “Good to see you again, Rey.”

 

“You’re lucky he has the sight, Poe,” Maz chortled, washing dinner dishes at the sink. “Not all my boarders are of that sort.”

 

Poe smirked. “I can tell who sees what, Maz.” He stepped forward and thrust out his free hand. “Poe Dameron.”

 

“Ben Solo.” He shook his hand, but he wondered if his jealousy was what was giving him that bad feeling in the pit of his stomach. 

 

“And this is Bebe,” he introduced his little orange kitten. 

 

The kitten opened its large dark eyes at Ben. It disregarded him and pawed for Dameron’s hand. 

 

“Alright Bebe, more pets you spoiled cat.” He glanced back up at Rey. “Do I get to take you home this time, Rey?” He teased with a wink. 

 

Rey shook her head and stepped behind Ben.

 

Poe's face quirked, eyeing Ben. "Now what is a city witch doing down in our quaint little town?"

 

"I'm here for work. And you? You're no witch."

 

Poe chuckled. "I'm a glorified taxi. Long distance lifts, you know."

 

"Then that Camaro out front is yours?"

 

"Custom all the way down to the chassis. Just to match Bebe," he cooed, snuggling the cat up to his cheek. It meowed and pawed at his stubble. 

 

"Well, I've got homework to grade," Ben shrugged, leaving the room without another word. 

 

He shut the door to his room tight behind him, gratefully noting that the UV lamp was still on and filling the entire room with light. 

 

"Breathe," Rey said, setting a gentle hand on his wrist. He looked down and relaxed his clenched fists. "He's not bad. He's not going to do anything."

 

"What is he? Why can he see you?"

 

"I don't know. I didn't really know...I was dead until you. I didn’t know that there was really...magic until you.”

 

"I don't like him."

 

She shook his head and turned to look at the bookshelf. "You never told me which crystals were yours."

 

Ben softened and waved a hand so that his set of garnets floated over to him. He cradled them in his large palms. "These are mine. They called to me."

 

"Is your soul connected to them like I am?"

 

He shook his head. "No. They are more like...grounders, they're tuned to the same wavelength as my soul."

 

The crystals began to glow in his palms. 

 

"They're beautiful! How are they doing that?"

 

"Actually, I'm not doing that. They glow when I use magic."

 

"Your pocket is glowing."

 

He laid his crystals on his bed and pulled Rey's blue crystal from his pocket. "I've never seen the crystals glow on their own before."

 

Rey touched Ben's crystals on his bed, and they glowed brighter. She picked one up and brought it closer to hers in Ben's hand. They were brilliant. 

 

"You've never seen this before?"

 

"Never."

 

"Is the crystal supposed to be glowing?" Maz called through the door, rapping quickly on the door.

 

Ben opened the door. "I'm not sure." He showed the crystal in his own hand. 

 

"I'm not familiar with your brand of magic, Ben, but I do know that crystals tune into the universe like a radio." Maz looked from Ben to Rey and back. She nodded. "I'm going to give this back to you for now until you figure this out." She pressed the crystal into his palm. "It looks like your fates are intertwined."

 

Rey cradled Ben's crystal in her hands. "It's so comforting.”

 

Maz nodded. "I'll leave you two to it."

 

She closed the door behind her, and Rey came close to Ben again. 

 

“What if they touch?” She whispered, breathless. 

 

“Do you want to see?”

 

He came shoulder to shoulder with her, holding her stone out for her to bring his close. They held their breath, and she brought an edge of his to hers. The moment they touched, they were stuck together like a magnet. 

 

Rey clutched Ben’s sleeve, staring into the crystals, and Ben set a hand on her lower back. 

 

A vision opened up to them. They saw themselves in broad daylight, together, in a garden, surrounded by life. It came into focus, and Rey was dressed all in white, a veil thrown back over the flowers in her hair. Ben was in a suit, flowers braided into his own hair as well. She was biting into a piece of cake, and he was smiling down at her. 

 

"You don't eat...you're alive," Ben breathed. 

 

“I’m marrying you.”

 

The vision closed, looked up at each other, and stepped away. If Rey could have blushed, she would have. 

 

“The future,” he whispered. 

 

He reached back to her, then looked at their crystals still touching. He tried to pull away. They would not separate. They gradually melded into a single violet crystal. 

 

"I have never seen that before." Ben nudged the crystal towards her. "Can you hold it? Move it?"

 

She let the crystal roll down into her palm. She walked in a circle around Ben, and then she moved backwards, trying to disappear and phase through the door. She was solid. She spun and looked back at the door, placing a hand on the hardwood. She tried pushing through, but nothing happened. She offered him the crystal back, and he took it, and she appeared back at Ben's side. "I can't move through things with it."

 

"It's a tether," he explained, putting the pieces into place. He offered her one of her blue crystals. 

 

She took it, and she couldn't move from that spot. 

 

"A tether to the physical world." Ben took the crystal and gave her the violet crystal back. "But it gives you the freedom to move. You should keep it. You'll just have to move like a normal human being."

 

"But I'm not a normal human being," she teased. She looked back at the rest of their glowing crystals on the bed and in the succulent pot. "And I'm not really alive. I don't know if this was really the future."

 

Ben reached out for her hand, holding it softly. "If there's a chance for you to live again, would you want it?"

 

She looked up, an intensity in her eyes. "But what would it cost?"

 

 


	13. Chapter 13

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Sorry it’s taken some time. Work has gotten really hectic.

Ben knew spirits didn't need...sleep, per se. He knew they needed rest, to be put to rest, to be laid to rest. A haunting was always caused by a "restless spirit." He didn't know that their human lives had left such an impact on their soul and their habits that they would continue to seek out a semblance of rest and sleep and comfort. That's what consumed his thoughts as he sat as his desk, perusing his books on the supernatural while Rey laid in his bed, curled up against the wall, hugging a pillow to her chest. She looked asleep. She may have been as close to sleep as her spirit could get. He would glance over at her when he'd turn a page.

 

The front door opened and closed, squeaking enough for Ben to hear it from his room. He shouldn't be surprised: His room was right above the foyer. He wondered who was coming home. It must have been Finn. 

 

Ben returned to reading. He sighed, annoyed at the discussion of summoning circles, and he flipped through the book, letting the universe guide his hands to what he needed to read. His hands slowed and stopped on a new section. Resurrection. He stared at the word. He knew the word. It was not the word he expected in this book. He had expected Necromancy. He had dabbled in Necromancy when he had first discovered his grandfather's crystals. Ultimately, he had decided that necromancy was more of a divination with the dead rather than raising of the dead. Very misleading, really. Resurrection, though, was something he had only heard when he ran into evangelical Christians on his college campus. They liked to do soapbox sermons. They had so much gusto and passion for life and what they were sharing, but a college campus was no place for that sort of thing. They often got caught up in philosophical debates with some of the jerk students, and Ben honestly pitied them. 

 

Back to resurrection, though, he had thought it had been some sort of morbid philosophy, not something he could truly achieve. He glanced back at Rey. What if he could? 

 

There were a few soft taps on his door, and a quiet Rose called “ProSo? Are you awake?”

 

“Yes, one moment,” Ben answered, standing and crossing the room. 

 

She strained her neck to look up at him, eyes slightly unfocused from fatigue. “I was wondering if you, or if we could check on Paige?”

 

He nodded and stepped aside so she could come in. 

 

“Oh, uh, her medallion is upstairs, and I should drop my bag off.” She showed off her denim backpack slung over one shoulder. “I’ll be right back?”

 

He nodded. “Come on in when you’re ready.”

 

He left the door ajar and returned to skim the pages on resurrection. They held the typical warnings, the price, incantations, a note that this resurrection is only for returning to mortality and not a step into immortality. He scoffed at that. He had already been granted immortality, and he wouldn’t say it was all he thought it would be. His hand wandered up to his scar. He really would have been dead. 

 

His door clicked shut. Rose cleared her throat. “Is she here now?”

 

Ben cast his eyes over the room and shook his head. He held his hand out for the medallion. Rose handed it to him without hesitation. She had truly become comfortable with him. They were family here at Maz's, and it felt like it meant something real. Ben couldn't help but smile at the little surge of...was it love? Compassion. It was compassion. He whispered the little incantations to bring Paige to them and reveal her to Rose. It simultaneously revealed Rey snoozing on his bed. 

 

Rose smiled at Paige and glanced at the other ghost on the bed. 

 

"She needs rest, too," Ben shook his head. He glanced back to his desk. "Actually, Rose, Paige, there's something I wanted to try out with the pair of you." He picked up the large ancient book almost like a small child and showed Rose the page. 

 

Paige turned to peer over their shoulders. "Latin, ProSo. I don't speak Latin."

 

Ben chuckled. It had become second nature with all his research, both academical and supernatural, to read Latin, and he often forgot that it wasn't just something everyone picked up. "Here, it's actually the root of the English word. Resurrectio. Resurrection."

 

"Bring Paige back?" Rose gasped, all tiredness fleeing from her eyes. 

 

"Is that really possible?"

 

The door squeaked open slowly. "Still awake, hm?" Poe hummed quietly. "It is the witching hour, isn't it?"

 

"Hi, Poe," Rose chirped. "Do you need something?"

 

"Just here for Paige."

 

"Paige?" She glanced back at her sister. "How can you see...oh of course, the spell."

 

"Well, actually, no, I can see her normally."

 

Rose looked back at Poe. "What do you mean?"

 

"I'm a bit more on the...supernatural side than you think." He looked past Rose to Paige. "Ready to go?"

 

Paige looked back to Rose and slowly shook her head. "I'm not finished here."

 

Poe nodded. "I understand, but I'm stuck here, too, until you're ready to go."

 

"You're something more than a taxi," Ben stated, frowning at him.

 

"Only as much as you're something more than a professor."

 

The tension settled in the thick air. 

 

A little meow distracted them to Poe's feet. Bebe was trotting into Ben's room like it owned the place, sniffing at Rose's feet, then Paige's, and Ben's, and wandering over to the bed, scrambling up onto the bedside table before tumbling onto the mattress. Rey stirred and opened her eyes. The cat waddled over to her and nuzzled up to her cheek. 

 

"Hello there," she cooed, petting the little kitten. 

 

"Come on, Bebe, time for bed," Poe insisted, coming inside and scooping the cat up into his arms. He glanced at the book as he passed them. "That's a high price," he warned. "It doesn't work right when you don't do it right." He paused and frowned. "I believe there's a life that took hers that might work well enough for you." He grinned. "He tried to take yours, too, Solo."

 

"Hux?" Paige whispered. Her face turned murderous, looking to Ben and eyes focusing on his scar. "Of course it was Hux."

 

Ben raised his eyebrows. "I didn't think you'd be the kind of person to suggest this sort of thing."

 

"My boss doesn't care about details, just numbers. One soul is just as good as another. Something about balance. I just drive them there."

 

Rey was sitting up, now, still hugging the pillow to her chest. "And you never took me."

 

"Not your time, Rey, despite my teasing."

 

"But it's mine." Paige folded her arms over her chest.

 

"Soon. Give or take a week or so." He left the room, pausing just outside the doorway. "Have a good night. And keep your Demon under control. He's been causing havoc."

 

 


	14. Chapter 14

Ben left the girls in his room, not wanting to endanger them as he confronted Snoke. If this newcomer knew that it was Snoke running amok, Snoke was causing some sort of major mischief. 

 

As he reached the first floor, Maz was coming out of her room in a flowing floral muumuu, disgruntled at being woken up. 

 

"What are y’all doing, making such a racket?" she scolded, squinting at him without her thick glasses. "It's past midnight! I'm old, you know!"

 

"I'm sorry, Maz. Paige is visiting with Rose. I have a demon to deal with." He offered no more explanation, making a bee-line to the backyard. 

 

He did smile, though, when he heard her screech "A demon?" behind him. 

 

The backyard was dark. The trees blocked the little light there was coming from the stars. There was no moon that night. He bounded off the back porch into the pitch black of the yard.

 

"Snoke! Master!" he called as loudly as he dared. He hadn't had trouble with the neighbors yet, but he didn't want to bring them up now, not when this demon was causing trouble.

 

"My boy, you've been so distant," he purred, though it made Ben's stomach sink. Snoke formed himself in front of Ben, tall and ominous, a shadow deeper than shadows.

 

"I've been busy, Master."

 

"I asked for a soul, Kylo." With each word the shape of Snoke came closer. "I asked for hers. You caught it so neatly in those crystals you play with." He reached out the tendrils of darkness to caress his scar, cracking his face in two. "And you kept her from me." Pain seared into Ben's head, into his being, into his soul. "Just like you kept your father from me." Waves of sharp stabbing sensations crackled through him. "You want too much." His chest and his ribs felt ready to snap. "You take too much." Ben's gut was wrenched into knots. "I made you what you are." 

 

The pain subsided, and Ben found himself on the ground, gasping, face in the grass and dirt, muscles tensed, blood throbbing in his ears and along his scar and through his muscles. He gingerly pushed himself up and forced himself to his feet. 

 

"And you mock me," Snoke growled at him. 

 

"I never agreed to her soul. It isn't mine to promise."

 

"And yet your little crystals have caught her close and decided to meld together." The demon circled Ben. "I've been watching, Kylo. I've been keeping an eye on your gift to me. I don't know why you're attaching yourself to her when she's destined to be consumed. Unlike me, unlike the source of raw power."

 

Ben tensed. "You, the source of my raw power?"

 

"Of course, my boy. Without me--"

 

"Without you, I would be free."

 

He was plowed back into the ground, spasms and pain and breathless lungs. "Without me, you would be dead." The darkness obscured his view. "You're such an heir to darkness, grandson to the mighty witch Darth Vader. If I had known that you were going to be as much a disappointment as your uncle, you'd be dead already." Breathy chuckles tumbled from the demon. "But you still have use, don't you, Kylo Ren? There's a human who tried to kill you, isn't there?" 

 

The pain in Ben's body lifted, and he could breathe.

 

"That Armitage Hux." Snoke stood upright, allowing Ben to stand again as well, though he kept his eyes down. "I have kept him for you." 

 

"What are you asking, Master?"

 

"Patience, my boy. There is not time enough for that tonight, and I have other matters to attend to. I'm still waiting for my payment for your life, Ren. Think on that."

 

He was gone. Ben Solo filled his lungs with the night air. It was cool now. The thickness was dissipating. Late October let the air cool at night. 

 

A soul for Snoke. He had never agreed to giving Rey up to him, he knew that. What had he promised Snoke? Had he promised Snoke payment after saving his life, or was that a trick? He didn't remember adding any promises to the one grant of immortality after he had...made the initial sacrifice.

 

Of course. He had never completed his end of the deal. 

 

His fist collided with the nearest tree trunk. 

* * *

Maz watched from the kitchen window as he screamed and pummeled the old peach tree. The demon had scared her, but she knew it had no business with her. She was scared for Ben. This bright boy was tangled up in such darkness, and she could do nothing to help him. When he finished his tantrum, she headed outside and threw her arms over the kneeling man's shoulders. He was sobbing and trembling, exhausted from his outburst, and his fatigue was the only thing that made him allow Maz's comfort. She guided him back to his room where Rose had fallen asleep leaning up against his bookshelf, and where Rey was chatting softly with Paige. Rey and Paige stood from the bed, allowing Ben to be shepherded to bed. When she went to turn off the UV lamp, Rey stopped her, and Maz nodded, though she did give Rose a little shake to wake her up and to go to her own bed.

* * *

Ben insisted that he bring Rey, succulent, crystals, planter, UV lamp, and all, to school with him the next morning. He was not letting her out of his sight. When she asked, he shook his head and tightened the seatbelt around the planter in the front seat of his rental car. He was going to have to get his car back from Plutt's, but that could wait. He needed to get through work first. 

 

When he arrived to school, he practically ran inside to plug in the lamp and only relaxed once the pot was under it. Rey sat on Ben's desk, swinging her legs. 

 

"You really didn't get any sleep last night," she commented. 

 

"I couldn't." He adjusted the lamp and turned the pot so it looked like it was sunning the succulent and not creating a protective barrier over the crystals.

 

"You look awful."

 

He nodded.

 

They couldn't continue their conversation as students were beginning to file into the room. He gave a smile and wave to Finn who wandered in, looking exhausted as always. 

 

"Hi, Rey, I didn't know you went here," Finn greeted. 

 

"It's good to see you, too, Finn." Rey nodded and waved in return.

 

Ben froze and turned to look at Rey. "He can see you?"

 

"Yeah. Is he new to the house?"

 

Ben shook his head and swallowed. Finn had taken a seat in a back row. With more students filling in, Ben couldn't continue the conversation, especially after a few complimented his new plant on his desk.

 

He eyed Finn all class period and noticed that no one acknowledged his presence. If he was a mess before, Ben was a disaster now. 

* * *

"Ben, may I have a word?" Amilyn Holdo greeted from the doorway as soon as class was over.

 

He waved her in and his students out, eyes lingering on Finn walking out the door in a space between Rose and that blue haired girl. "Of course."

 

She entered and closed the door behind her. "Armitage Hux is missing."

 

"Excuse me?"

 

"He's been missing since your accident. He hasn't been in to work since then. He won't answer any of my calls or emails. I've called in a missing person's case, but there hasn't been anything yet."

 

"And you think I did something?"

 

"The security cameras show that you went to his office before he left after work the night of your accident. The last we see from the tapes is Armitage leaving the building to his car. He didn't talk to anyone after that. I just wanted to see if you knew anything."

 

Ben shook his head. "Nothing."

 

"What were you speaking with him about?"

 

Ben paused, thinking back. "The rumors about him, the students have been spreading them."

 

Holdo folded her arms over her chest and looked down. "I hope he's doing okay. He's not a suspect, but I know how cruel our kids can be."

 

"I'll let you know if I hear anything from him. What about his classes?"

 

"Mitaka and Phas, bless their hearts, have been taking over."

 

He nodded. "That's good. I need to thank Mitaka properly for taking over my class."

 

Holdo smiled. "Yes, you do." She sighed and let her hands fall to her sides. "If you do need anything, let me know. We're all very impressed with your recovery."

 

"Thank you Amilyn. I will."

 

As she left, Ben turned back to Rey, again sitting on his desk. 

 

"Finn."

 

"What about him?"

 

"How long have you been able to talk to Finn?"

 

She shrugged. "Not too long. Isn't he one of us?"

 

"No, Rey, I don’t think he is.”

* * *

When Ben spotted Rose passing by his classroom later that day, he sprinted out and caught her arm. 

 

“You look awful, ProSo,” she informed with a yawn. “Worse than this morning.”

 

“Have you seen Finn?”

 

“Not today, but I plan on stopping by later.”

 

“I haven’t seen him—.”

 

Rose sighed and cut him off. “Then go see him. You know where he is.”

 

“Where is he?”

 

“Same room he’s been in. They haven’t moved him.”

 

“No, Rose, listen.” He had each of her shoulders in his hands, but she was entirely unphased from her late night. “I haven’t seen him at the house, but I’ve started seeing him joining my class.”

 

Rose’s face paled. “He’s not at the house. He never woke up after the accident. He’s in the hospital, in a coma. Did no one tell you?”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> What was Ben’s side of the deal he didn’t fulfill? How’s Finn doing? What’s happened with Hux? The plot is super thick, but it’s getting closer to getting sorted out. Thanks for sticking with me! I love and appreciate your kudos and comments and feedback!!!


	15. Chapter 15

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> All the Moral Dilemmas

Ben didn't remember what his plan was right after school when he walked out of the house that morning, but the moment his last class let out, he was toting his succulent planter back into his rental car and headed off to the hospital to visit Finn. He felt awful. How had he not even realized that Finn wasn't around? How had he not even realized that he was in his class when he should have been in Hux's? He had seen Rey talk to Finn at his homecoming party after he had gotten out of the hospital. He had still been on some heavy pain medication. It had only been a few days since then, a weekend, a couple of school days. He was still kicking himself for not even asking how Finn was. He was so wrapped up in his own things, in his demon, in Rey, in his father, in Hux. 

 

"Ben, slow down." Rey set a hand on his arm from her place in the front seat, cradling the planter in her lap. She purposefully held the violet crystal in her hand so she could hold the planter. 

 

He glanced down at his speedometer, going 20 over. He nodded and pressed on the brake to bring them down into a safer speed. 

 

"I'm sure he's not really dead..." Rey tried to comfort. "He's in the hospital. I'm sure they're taking very good care of him."

 

"What about you, Rey? Your body's alive? Being used as some front?" He felt his face and ears grow hot and anger well inside him. "What if something gets a hold of Finn?"

 

"One thing at a time, Ben."

 

"The galaxy isn't giving it to me one at a time! There's you, there's Paige, now there's Finn! On top of whatever Plutt is doing. And Snoke is breathing down my neck. And Hux is missing. And it's my fault Finn is in the hospital--"

 

"No it is not. It was hit and run. You were being kind."

 

"Apparently it was Hux! If you remember what Poe said. It was my fault that Hux took it out on me.  I was trying to make things better! Give Finn a break! Help him out! He's a good kid!"

 

"Please slow down, Ben," Rey repeated, eyeing the dashboard and his white knuckles on the steering wheel.

 

Ben glanced over at her and obediently slowed down, again. 

 

There was a quiet tension until they reached the hospital. He eyed the succulent in Rey's lap. "Do you think you'll be fine in here?"

 

"I'm coming with you. The succulent will be fine. It will be sunny for a while."

 

"The sun is going down sooner every day, Rey."

 

"It will be fine."

 

He nodded, taking the violet crystal so she could follow, but she wouldn't be limited by walls and doors. They had discovered over the course of the school day that she had all the advantages of a body except for being seen or heard when she held the melded crystal. She was more tethered to world, but it was still only her spirit. 

 

They paused at the receptionist's desk to ask where Finn Samuel was, and the receptionist made a friendly comment about being glad to see that Ben was up and about and recovering so well. Ben nodded, thanked her, and continued up to the third floor where the long term patients were monitored. 

 

Finn's room already had a few students at a small table, discussing a homework assignment. Rose was seated besides Finn, explaining their engineering homework to him, hoping to glean something herself. Finn was in the center of the room, very much unconscious. He had tubes and wires attached to him, and monitors beeped softly against the wall. The blinds on the window were already drawn as the window faced the afternoon sun. 

 

"Hi, ProSo!" One of the students waved. 

 

He nodded to them and went to stand beside Rose and Finn.

 

"I'm glad you're here," Rose told him, squeezing Finn's hand and looking up at Ben. "He's stable. There hasn't been any change in a few days."

 

"He doesn't look too bad," Ben commented. 

 

"His face is doing pretty well. There were only a couple cuts and bruises. His back got most of it," Rose explained. "He was turned around when the collision happened. At least, that's what the doctor's say."

 

"He was looking at his bike in the back seat," Ben nodded. He felt his clenched fists tremble until a small cool hand traced the side of his fist and sneak its way to hold it. He let Rey take his hand, giving her ghostly grip a light squeeze. 

 

"They say a lot of spinal chord damage. They've got a specialist flying in soon." Rose glanced at the doorway where a nurse was pulling in a cart filled with gauze and medication and IV pouches. 

 

"Excuse me, darlins," she cooed, going over to the opposite side of the bed, going about adding another IV bag to the hanger.

 

A second nurse, a larger man, followed in. 

 

"Can you roll him over?" the lady nurse asked. 

 

"That's what I'm here for," he nodded, muttering "excuse me" to Ben and Rose. 

 

They scooted back for him to sidle past and gently roll the comatose young man onto his side. The other nurse set about changing the bandages on his back.

 

Ben curiously peeked over to see the wound, and his anguish grew again to see the angry bleeding gashes all up Finn's back. 

 

"Excuse me," Rose whispered, leaving the room.

 

"She doesn't ever handle it very well when they change the bandaging," one of the students at the table explained, burying her attention in the shared textbook on the table. Ben looked at her, the blue-haired girl. She looked up at him as if she knew he was studying her. "We have a gift for you, Master Ren."

 

"What did I tell you about that?" he scolded. 

 

The other students, three boys, looked up at Ben. 

 

"You'll want this gift," one told him. 

 

Another stood and came close to whisper. "We have Hux for you, Master. We've done just as we've been instructed."

 

"I didn't tell you to do anything except your homework," Ben glowered, though fear was already invading his chest. 

 

"It was Snoke who commanded us, Master Ren," the third boy informed, going back to his homework. "We have him prepared for you."

 

Ben glanced back at the pair of nurses who were flashing each other weird glances at the conversation.

 

"Don't worry, Master," the blue-haired girl chirped. "They just think we're discussing class. Snoke promised that to us."

 

"We need to have a very private conversation," he growled, leaving the room. 

 

The four students scrambled after him, falling in line.

 

Rose quirked her head as they came even with her at the vending machine.

 

"I just have to talk with them about something, Rose. I'll come say goodbye before I head home," he told her before continuing down to an empty waiting room. 

 

He peeked into the receptionist's adjoining break room, and seeing it empty, he cast a spell so that no one would enter and no one could hear their conversation.

 

"Tell me about Snoke," he ordered.

 

The four looked at each other. 

 

"He came while you were in the hospital," the girl finally spoke up. "Professor Mitaka had to run an errand, and the room was dark because of the movie. A lot of students had left to go study somewhere else, but there was," she glanced at the boys, "what? About 12 of us?"

 

"Closer to 15, I think."

 

"Are you sure? I distinctly remember 13," a boy argued.

 

"Number is not important," Ben urged. 

 

"He told us that we were your knights, the Knights of Ren."

 

"Our first mission was to reprimand the person who hurt you."

 

"Of course, we knew it was Hux," the girl said proudly. "Especially after what he had done to Professor Tico."

 

"He's tied up in my basement," the scrawniest of the boys informed with a wicked grin.

 

"You have Hux tied up in your basement?" Ben looked at them in horror.

 

"Snoke said you have a plan for him."

 

Ben couldn't give them an answer, not in that moment. He could do so many things with Armitage Hux, and he had considered using him for certain dark spells or for returning Paige to life or for feeding his demon, but was he going to involve his students?

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I've been writing every moment I've caught for myself. Which means you suddenly get a spurt of daily updates. And this is my jam! Is Ben becoming a better person? Or is he going to fall back on magic to exact revenge for those he cares for?


	16. Chapter 16

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Ben's not the only one keeping an eye out for Rey.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> It's a little bit shorter, but it's an important step forward.

Ben Solo stood at the windows of the waiting room, staring down over a well-manicured lawn, considering his options. Armitage Hux was in a student’s basement, abducted by a collection of college students at the command of a demon. 

 

“Have we done well, Master Ren?” The blue-haired girl asked. 

 

“I am not your master!” He snapped, turning to glare at them, fists clenched at his sides. “No you have not! You’re holding a man hostage in your basement!” He kicked a nearby chair over, seething. “What for? Reckless driving?”

 

“For murder.”

 

“You can’t prove that.”

 

“But you can.”

 

One of the young men stepped forward. “Not that we want you to. We just want him gone. You can do that, right?"

 

The blue-haired girl nodded. "Snoke thinks highly of you. You can get rid of him."

 

"You're asking me to murder him."

 

The students looked at each other and looked back at Ben, all nodding. 

 

Ben turned back to the window. "This isn't something you should be getting yourselves into. Does Hux know who you are? Does he know that it's you holding him hostage?"

 

"We've kept our faces covered," one of the boys said. 

 

"And Snoke gave us a spell to change our voices."

 

"And Snoke gave us another spell to keep Hux asleep."

 

Ben rubbed the bridge of his nose. "You have been feeding him? Taking care of his needs?"

 

"He's a murderer!"

"He's a human being!" Ben turned, drilling the point home with a glare. 

 

"That you're willing to kill."

 

"And don't say you're not. If you weren't willing to kill him, or at least use him in some sort of offering or sacrifice, you would have already ordered us to release him."

 

"And you haven't threatened to call the police."

 

"And you haven't actually told us that you aren't planning on killing him."

 

Ben studied them. "Do you serve me, or do you serve Snoke?"

* * *

Rey had stayed in the hospital room with Finn, studying his face. 

 

"Do you know your body is here?" she whispered to herself. "Or are you like me?" She gently ran her fingers over Finn's forehead. "Where you don't actually know that you're not even really alive?"

 

"When did you learn you were dead?" 

 

Rey turned to look at the man standing in the doorway. He looked so experienced with a beard and auburn hair swept back from his face. His voice had the same elegant accent as hers.

 

"What do you mean?"

 

He chuckled and came closer to her. "When did you learn that you weren't alive like everyone else?"

 

She shook her head and looked back at Finn's body. "I didn't really know, not until Ben."

 

"Death isn't so different than life, is it?"

 

"Who are you?"

 

"Ben Kenobi." He patted her shoulder. "Now let's get you back to your crystals. There's a few demons waiting in the shadows. And your Ben is a little preoccupied."

 

Rose re-entered Finn's room now that the nurses were on their rounds elsewhere. It didn't feel like an empty room, though. There was a soft comforting presence. "Hi, Rey," she whispered before she went back to sit beside Finn.

 

"You're such a strong spirit," Ben Kenobi told Rey as they left the room. "You have much good left to do." He smiled at Rose. "And she needs a good friend."

 

"Is it possible for me to..."

 

"That rests on Ben."

 

"My Ben?"

 

"Your Ben." He smiled softly as he led her out to the parking lot that was quickly dimming with long shadows. "I'll be able to keep the light on for you." He settled himself on the dashboard of Ben's car, and he set a hand on the UV lamp. It clicked to life, throwing light over the enter front seat. 

 

"Can I do that?" Rey whispered.

 

Kenobi looked at her with such fondness that she felt like she was going to cry. "You'll learn how."

* * *

Ben didn't remember Rey until the waiting room fell dark from the dipping sun. He scowled at the Knights of Ren. 

 

"You know what to do," he told them before sprinting down the emergency stairs rather than waiting for the elevator. 

 

When his car came into sight, and the windows were all lit up from the UV lamp, he picked up his speed, pummeling into the driver side door as he fumbled with the locks. He opened the door, and the UV lamp fell dark. He could hear Rey's little gasp.

 

"Are you alright?" he whispered, climbing into the driver's seat. 

 

Rey nodded. "I am." She studied him. "Who is Ben Kenobi?"

 

"Let's go home."


	17. Chapter 17

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> History lessons

Rey swung her feet, sitting in Ben’s office chair at his desk. Ben was adjusting the UV lamp over the succulent and crystals. 

 

“So, who is Ben Kenobi?” she pressed again. 

 

He hadn’t answered all the way home. He was too lost in thought over whatever his students were doing. Rey didn't particularly care what the students were up to. They were outside her realm of concern. Ben Kenobi, though, was at the center of her concern. 

 

He had spoken kindly to her, and his voice made her feel important. He was a friend who kept her safe as she was waiting for Ben to finish what he was doing, and he had left without a word when Ben, her Ben, had returned. Her Ben. Just like she was His Rey. 

 

"He's my namesake. He was an important influence to my uncle. I found a few letters between Kenobi and my mother. She was asking for his help concerning Darth Vader."

 

"Your Grandfather?"

 

He nodded. "Yes. She didn't know who he was to her. She was very politically active at a young age, and her goal was to remove a Senator Palpatine and his lackey, Vader, from office. Palpatine was looking to become president. He had Vader sabotage his opponents."

 

"How did she not know he was her father?"

 

Ben stood up and went to the bookshelf, looking over the crystals. "She was adopted. My mother and my uncle both were. They didn't know they were twins until they met in adulthood."

 

"And what about their mother?"

 

Ben frowned. "Padme," he breathed. He looked at his wristwatch. "I never bothered, but," he patted down his pockets to find his phone, "I can't imagine that my mother didn't." 

 

He took a seat on his bed as he selected his mother from his contacts and set it on speakerphone on his knee. It rang twice and clicked. 

 

"Ben?"

 

"Hi, Mom."

 

"It's good to hear from you," Leia told him. "How are you doing? How's your head?"

 

"I'm still doing well. A few headaches, but they go away with painkillers."

 

Rey frowned at him. She didn't know he was having headaches. 

 

"I actually called because..." he cleared his throat. "I was curious about your...birth mother?"

 

Leia didn't say anything for a long while. "Padme Naberrie Amidala."

 

Ben's eyes lit up.

 

"She died in childbirth. She was good friends with my parents. Bail and Breha. You've seen the photographs. They were all in the government together."

 

"I don't remember her."

 

"I can email you the photos. I've had Artoo digitize them for me. He was one of her assistants when he was just starting out, him and Threepio. Do you remember Threepio? He's the one who knew all the stories about Padme."

 

"I remember Threepio. Artoo was the one who taught me how to swear wasn't he?"

 

"Him and your father both." She grew quiet again. "Ben..."

 

"You left his dice here," he told her.

 

"Keep them."

 

He cleared his throat. 

 

"What do you want to know about Padme?"

 

"How did she meet grandfather?"

 

"I don't know that one. I'll get you Threepio's number. He'll know that." He could hear Leia's sigh on the other end of the phone. "I wish I knew more about Padme. I know she was a senator, up against Palpatine. Her grave is a memorial. I'll send the address with the photographs. You look like her, actually."

 

"I do?"

 

"You do. You'll see in the photos." She laughed. "By the way, what do you want for your birthday?"

 

"I'm doing okay, Mom. This is enough."

 

"You're not so close anymore. I can't just call in catering for a cake."

 

"I don't need that."

 

"I know you don't, but it's still your birthday."

 

"I love you, too, Mom. I appreciate it."

 

"I love you, too, Ben. Take care of yourself. I'll get you those photos."

 

Ben ended the call and looked back at the bookshelf.

 

"When is your birthday?" Rey asked.

 

"October 27th." He looked back to her. "You?"

 

"April 14, 1956."

 

Ben coughed. "What year?"

 

"1956." Rey stood and came over to sit beside him. "What year were you born?"

 

"1986."

 

Rey's eyes widened. "What year is it?"

 

"2019."

 

She stared without focus.

 

"How long have you been at Maz's?"

 

Rey shook her head. "I don't know, Ben."

 

Ben stood. "It's not too late. I'm asking Maz."

 

Rey followed him downstairs. 

 

They found Maz closing the windows in the kitchen. 

 

"Hello, Dears," she greeted. 

 

"How long has Rey been dead?"

 

Maz turned and studied them. 

 

"She was born in 1956," Ben stated.

 

Maz smiled. "Yes she was." She hobbled past them. 

 

Ben followed her into the front room. "Why does Plutt have Rey's body?"

 

"Because I didn't let him keep her soul, too." She set about pulling the curtains closed over the windows in the front room. "I babysat Rey when I was young. Not for too long, but long enough to know that Plutt was bad news. My father didn't let me go back after some unsavory news got out about him. When she turned 18, she tried to leave. Of course, Plutt was too drunk on her magic, by then."

 

A sniffle came from behind them. 

 

"Are you sure you want to hear this, Rey?" 

 

She nodded. "I want to know. I don't remember it myself."

 

Maz continued on through the house to close it up for the night. "I'm an oracle, fortune teller, medium, what have you. I have a very acute amount of magic, limited to sight, really. But I knew that Rey needed out." She made sure that the front door was locked and started her way upstairs. "I knew she had some sort of magic." Her eyes twinkled as she looked back at Rey and Ben following behind her. "I loved seeing you make your toys come to life." She reached the second floor. "And when you were upset, it was a sight to behold. You flooded the entire town on your 16th birthday." 

 

Rey didn't know what to say. It made her feel powerful. It made her feel lost. 

 

"After that, Plutt fed on your power more, kept you subdued. Can't scam the town out of their money when there was no town." She entered Rey's green room, filled with plants.  They were beginning to wilt. "Dear, I don't have quite as green a thumb as you do. Do you mind?" 

  
Rey nodded. She went to each plant and busied herself with watering and pruning and lending a little magic to each.

 

"Very natural magic," Maz said. "Life. Elements. Moving things. Kindness and courage. She could do nearly anything, except get away from Plutt."

 

"Then what did you do?"

 

"I didn't do anything except offer my help." Maz sighed. "I tried to sneak her out, but you can't run away from the magic deals Plutt makes. He caught us. He caught her body. I caught her soul. She ripped."

 

Rey's eyes snapped to Maz's. "I remember that. I remember how much it hurt."

 

"It wasn't a clean tear," Maz nodded, patting Rey's head. "There's some soul left in your body, and enough magic to keep it...alive and young."

 

"But my Rey has most of the magic."

 

"Exactly."

 

"And that's why he wants the rest of her. He can't consume the magic he doesn't have."

 

Maz nodded. "I'm afraid so." She sighed. "I can't tell you if there is any way to get her body back."

 

"It's his. Because of the deal he made with my parents." Rey found herself trembling and crying as she knelt in front of her potted plants. 

 

"Every deal can be broken," Ben assured, kneeling beside Rey and putting an arm around her. 

 

"Don't get cocky, Solo," Maz warned. "I'm holding you responsible if we lose her."

 

"I can't lose her, Maz," Ben whispered. "I won't. 

 

 


	18. Chapter 18

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> What decisions did Ben make? And why? What is Kenobi here to do?

Ben moved Rey's UV lamp and planter back to her green room for the rest of the night. He told her he needed sleep. He really did, but he wouldn't get any that night. 

 

The moment he was alone, he pulled his grandfather's obsidian stones from the bookshelf and set them around a newly sketched chalk circle on the hardwood floor. 

 

He absentmindedly swiped through his phone for a moment, making sure to set an alarm for the morning, and he paused when he saw a new notification for his email. An email from his mother with the subject line filled with emojis greeted him. He smiled and opened it. 

 

The pictures loaded quickly, and Ben found picture after picture of an elegant woman. His hand ghosted over his own cheek where a beauty mark graced mirrored his grandmother's. There were all sorts of pictures. Ones where she was giving speeches. Ones where she was laughing with Bail and Breha Organa. Ones that were professionally taken for campaigns. Many were in black and white, but the ones in color were more precious. They were taken in an impeccably decorated home with arms slung around friends, candid moments of her cooking, and side snapshots of her round with pregnancy. One photo caught his attention, thrown in as if it was just tucked in between the album pages of her giving a speech and a dinner party with the Organas, a Polaroid snapshot of his little grandmother with her arms slung around the shoulders of two tall men, her feet kicking in the air as they lifted her. One he knew to be a young Ben Kenobi; he had seen a picture of a much older Ben Kenobi with his mother and uncle in another album. The other man he only knew from the brief flickers he saw when he tried to contact his grandfather. The wavy hair, the strong jawline, the tenseness in his shoulders all spoke of his grandfather, Anakin Skywalker, but he had never seen his face so young and so happy. 

 

He looked back to the circle of stones on his floor. He wished that he had some memory of his grandmother, some way to contact her. 

 

"I'm afraid to say you won't be able to," a low english accent informed him. Ben Kenobi stood beside his desk, sad and forlorn, but with the same youthful face as the picture. "Padme is gone."

 

"Why are you here, Kenobi?" Ben asked. "Why did you speak with Rey?"

 

"I'm here to help. I was a dear friend to your grandparents." He flickered and appeared at Ben's side, pointing to the picture still on his phone. "Anakin was my brother, my best friend. I loved him more than I should." He looked up at Ben's face. "And now, you need my help."

* * *

"Do you think this is really ethical?" one of the Knights of Ren asked, climbing out of their old truck. "I mean, grave robbing?"

 

"Chill out, Hunter," the blue-haired girl sighed. "It's not robbing. We're giving her her body and her life back! It's retribution."

 

"Molly," another boy whined. "Do we really have to do this in the middle of the night?"

 

"Yes!" Molly huffed. "Of course in the middle of the night! We promised Master Ren that we wouldn't get caught!"

 

"All y'all're a bunch of wimps," the tallest boy mocked, hopping down from the bed of the truck with a well-used tarp. "If this gets me out of this dead end town, I'm taking it."

 

"You're just salty that Ryan got the football scholarship and you didn't." Hunter snorted.

 

"Of course I'm salty! I worked my tail end off! And all I get is a 'thank you for your interest, but the scholarship has already been granted,' what kind of bull?"

 

"This is her," Molly halted, thrusting her shovel into the neatly manicured grass. "Now which one of you is gonna get this lost soul out of her grave?"

 

"This really can't be ethical," Hunter muttered under his breath.

 

"But it's the right thing to do," Molly assured, turning back to the roadways to keep an eye out. 

 

"Molly! It's starting to rain!"

 

"Jon-boy! We've been granted magic! Use some creativity!" Molly grinned and held out her hands towards the football player with the tarp. The blue tarp flew from his hands to hover over the grave site of Paige Tico. "Now get digging!"

* * *

"His brain activity has been so much better today," a nurse commented to the doctor just coming on shift the next morning.

 

"What's changed?"

 

"Nothing that we can trace. He took an upward turn about 3 am, but we haven't figured it out."

 

Ben Kenobi watched as the nurse and the doctor discussed Finn's sudden turn of health. He had always been good with healing. He was glad that the skill had carried with him past the grave.

* * *

Ben was exhausted again as he made his way to his office the next morning. The "Knights of Ren" were already there waiting. He unlocked the door and let them in, cradling the succulent pot in his arms. He didn't say a word until they were all inside and the door was locked behind them. 

 

"How did last night go?"

 

"She wasn't there," Molly reported.

 

Ben slowly lowered the pot onto his desk where sunlight was beginning to show through. "She wasn't?"

 

Hunter shook his head. "An empty casket."

 

He gripped the edge of his desk, back to them.  "Of course she wasn't," he growled. "And Hux?"

 

"Fed, watered, in the barn," Jon-boy assured. 

 

Ben turned with a crooked eyebrow. 

 

"My family's got this old tobacco drying barn on our land, but nobody ever goes in there. It's too unstable. We get like fifty bucks a month to keep it standing for some sort of history initiative."

 

"We made sure he was unconscious before we left him," the football player, Zach, informed. 

 

Ben nodded and circled to his own chair. "And how did your magic work?"

 

Each fumbled into a pocket to pull out one of his red crystals. 

 

"Well enough. The glowing is weird," Hunter offered. 

 

Ben sighed and nodded. "Take care of those." He touched the violet one in his pants pocket. Days without sleep, and now he was lending his own magic to college students.

 

"So, what now?" Molly asked, putting her borrowed stone back in her zippered jacket pocket. 

 

"Where do you think Professor Tico's body is?" Zach asked. 

 

Ben ran a hand over his face. He shook his head. "I have no idea." His eyes traveled over each of his students: Molly, Jon-boy, Hunter, and Zach. He had never considered creating a coven, but even so, this had not been what he had pictured. He leaned forward and ran a hand through his hair. "What did you do with Professor Tico's empty grave?"

 

"Filled it in. Made it look like we had never been there," Zach answered. 

 

Ben nodded. "Good." His stare turned to Rey's crystals. She was leaning against the desk with her back to him, staring out the window. "I need you to search Hux's home for her body, for evidence of what he did with her."

 

"Aye aye, Captain," Jon-boy saluted. 

 

"Stay low. And who do you serve?"

 

"Kylo Ren," they answered in unison. 

 

"Right. Your deal is with me, not Snoke." He rubbed his eyes with his thumb and forefinger. "Now, go do your homework or go to class, or something. Please be intelligent about this." He waved them out of the room.

 

When the door closed again, Rey turned to him. "Do you really think you can do this? Raise Paige from the dead?"

 

Ben looked up at her, sunlight falling all around her, every bit an angel. "I have to try," he whispered, standing. 

 

"Why?"

 

"So that I can do the same for you."

 

Rey froze as he came to her. 

 

His eyes were dark rimmed and exhausted but worshipful as he studied her face. 

 

"You need Hux for Paige," she whispered, training her own eyes on his. "Who would you sacrifice for me?"

 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I guess the knights needed names, so you've got blue-haired Molly, jock football player Zach, hick boy from the country Jon-boy, and the guy with the truck Hunter. There was a fourth boy somewhere, but he never got named. He had an early morning class at the same time as this meeting with Ben. Poor Kid.
> 
> Also, idk about you, but I'm pretty sure it's practically canon that Obi-Wan is a spectacular healer. Like the moments where he touches Padme's forehead and Luke's forehead in the movies? Healing right? 
> 
> And dude, we all know that this boy is making bad decisions, but dude, it makes for a good story, right? Poor exhausted Ben trying to do the best he can making less than spectacular decisions. It's a disaster. 
> 
> One thing I know? There's gonna be a happily ever after, I promise. How am I getting there? ummmm, I'll get back to you on that. I'm not sure how I'm getting from here to my next plot point.


	19. Chapter 19

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Why Paige died.

Ben was in the middle of a lesson when his phone started buzzing in his pocket beside the violet crystal. He held up a finger and fished it from his pocket, noticing that it was an unfamiliar number. He swiped to answer.

 

"Hello?"

 

"ProSo!" Molly nearly shouted, breathless. 

 

"Excuse me, I need to take this."He exited the classroom and strode to his office. "What is it, Molly?"

 

"We found her, in Hux's apartment, in his storage closet!"

 

"It reeks!" One of the boys complained in the background. 

 

"It's a dead body, Zach! Of course it's going to stink!"

 

Ben ran a hand over his face. "You know what to do. I'll meet you there tonight. Get me the address."

 

"On it, Lord Ren."

 

Ben winced at the term but didn't protest. 

 

"They found my body."  

 

"Hello, Paige."

 

"You could have asked me where it was."

 

Ben raised his eyebrows at the ghost. 

 

"You never asked." The fury in her eyes caught him off guard. "I appreciate what you're trying to do, but nobody ever asked me what I wanted."

 

"And do you want your life back?"

 

Paige's eyes darkened. "I want Hux gone. I want Rose taken care of. My life is the last thing on the list."

 

Ben nodded. "I understand."

 

Paige's glare softened. "I keep thinking about Poe saying that it's my time, or someone's time. I don't want to leave Rose."

 

"She misses you."

 

"I miss her. We're the only family we had left."

 

"I know I will never replace you, but I consider her a dear friend, Paige. I promise I will keep an eye out for her. I'm going to make sure she's okay."

 

Paige nodded but clenched her fists all the same. "Thank you, but I never should have died in the first place."

 

"Why did he kill you, Paige?"

 

Her image burst into frantic flames and static. Ben's eyes widened at the horror he was staring at in the middle of a school hallway. Her anger flared in the same way Ben's anger overcame him, furious and all at once. 

 

"Paige?" Rey greeted behind them. She came to her, and with a single touch in a reverse ripple, Paige's image cleared. Her face was soaked with the memory of tears and sweat. Rey pulled her into her arms and set her forehead against Paige's. Rey put out as much calm and peace into her vicinity while reaching into Paige's mind. 

 

Rey saw flashes of memories. Hux's face, Hux's voice. Complaints of how he was better than her. Feelings of pride as Holdo told her that she was would be the one to take over the department the next year when Holdo retired. Anger, yelling. Hux shoving her against a wall, throwing her to the ground. He was yelling. The last sight from her life, the asphalt of a sidewalk as her head cracked against it, and blood spattered on Hux's pretentiously polished shoes. 

 

"ProSo, are you alright?" a student asked, peeking her head out of the classroom.

 

Ben turned from the empty hallway. "I'm fine."

 

"I just had a question?"

 

"Of course." He forced himself to keep himself facing forward and not to glance back at the ghosts communing with each other.

 

 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Again another short chapter, but it didn't feel right to stick anything else with this one. But we finally found out why Paige died. Hux is a selfish, arrogant, power-hungry snake.   
> Holdo was going to have Paige take over the department, and Hux was pissed it wasn't him. This man should not be in any position of authority. 
> 
> I spent a lot of time today plotting where this fic is going to go and why. At this point, the hard part is getting the words down on paper for each scene. I'm really aiming for a satisfying ending here. I'd love to hear where you think this is headed, what your theories are, what your thoughts are! I'm really excited for this to finish up though. Don't worry, there are a lot of scenes and plot points to hit. We haven't even met Luke yet!


	20. Chapter 20

Ben was fairly quiet for the rest of the day. What he was going to attempt that night weighed heavily on his soul. The first few minutes of the drive back to Maz's after school was quiet until Rey broke the silence.

 

"Do you think I can help tonight?" Rey asked. "Ben Kenobi has been helping me to learn how to use my powers." 

 

Ben's eyes widened, and he glanced over and back at the road.

 

"I can bring plants back now," she continued on. "After I kill them, but they're back and healthy. If Paige's body is as decaying as I heard...she'll need my help."

 

"This is dangerous, Rey."

 

"What do you think would happen, Ben? I'm already dead."

 

Ben swallowed. "I need Snoke's help with something so big."

 

He could feel the wave of Rey's anger rush through him. "You don't need Snoke!"

 

"I do, with this." He took a deep breath in and turned off on a side road and parked in front of a quiet empty park. It was too cold for there to be kids there, and it would be dark soon. "I caused Finn to be hurt so bad. I cast a spell, on my own, to give him rest. I just wanted to give him a break. He'd been non-stop. I didn't intend for him to go into a coma. He's in the hospital because of me." He took another breath, gripping the steering wheel so tight that his knuckles were white. "I can't do something so big without Snoke."

 

"What if I asked Kenobi to help?"

 

Ben glanced at her and back at the green field in front of them. "That's too dangerous. If Snoke were to get to Kenobi--"

 

"What does Snoke do to spirits, Ben?"

 

Ben took a deep breath and finally put the car in park. Raindrops started to spatter on the windshield. "Consumes them for their power, their energy. He's always whispered in my ear, guiding me in my abilities. He told me that if I wanted his help, I needed to make sacrifices to him, like putting gas in your car or charging a battery, making an exchange." Ben swallowed. "My father was the price for my immortality." 

 

Rey felt the tension in his voice. There was something else. She waited for him to finish. The sun dipped below the tree line, and there were rays of light spreading out over the darkening sky.

 

"I killed my father, but I never gave him to Snoke. I never upheld my end of the deal."

 

Rey stared at Ben.

 

"I never let Snoke consume my father. I couldn't." A few fat tears tumbled over Ben's cheeks. 

 

"Have you ever given Snoke a soul?" Rey whispered.

 

Ben nodded slowly. "Not often. A few people I went to school with." He swallowed again. "I keep him sated with my own blood and my own power." He shook his head. "I didn't realize I hadn't kept my end of the deal until..." He shook his head. "If I had, my father would not exist, his soul would be gone, consumed." His tears dripped down his cheeks again. "He wanted my father to show that I belonged to him. He wants your soul because--"

 

"of my power," Rey interrupted. 

 

Ben took her hand. "Not just." He guided her face to look her in the eyes. "Because I love you. My connections keep me from him. I would rather give everything for you than be at his beck and call."

 

Rey stared back at Ben. If she had been alive, she wasn't sure she would have been able to breathe. She blinked, and she could think again, and she whispered, "Do you have my violet crystal?"

 

His eyes grew confused as he took the hand from her cheek and shuffled in his pants pocket to retrieve it. He offered it to her. She took it and immediately leaned forward to place her lips on his. 

 

She was pleasantly solid and surprisingly warm, not the warmth of a body with blood, but of a soul filled with love. 

 

She leaned back, and he followed after to capture her lips again. She couldn't help but laugh into his kiss. He quirked his head at the sound, and they bumped noses, making her laugh again. 

 

"You really love me," she laughed.

 

"More than anything," he breathed in earnest. His eyes flickered open. 

 

"I'm helping you," she assured, "tonight."

 

His eyes turned hard. 

 

"You won't let him hurt me. I know that." She placed the palm of her hand over his heart. "I felt it. Here." She held up the purple crystal. "And here." She pressed it back into his free hand. "We should get home before those shadows decide they want a bite of me."

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I've been non-stop busy for a while now, and I just needed to get you guys another piece. The next part is an attempt to raise Paige from the dead and it's a massive scene. It's not something I can just write on the go or between tasks at work. It's going to take time but I'm trying to get it written asap.


	21. Chapter 21

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Resurrection

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Before you jump into this chapter, I updated and lengthened the last chapter. You will definitely want to go read it.
> 
> This chapter also is violent. I tried to avoid being graphic.

Ben put every protective spell he knew over Rey's crystals and succulent, knowing that it was impractical to bring her entire pot to an unfamiliar country farm. They would be staying on the desk in his room, except for the single violet crystal which held a near permanent place in his pocket. It felt strange to not have it on him anymore. He found himself patting his pocket in the middle of a lesson or as he was driving or when he stood from the dining room table. Knowing that it was safe, that Rey was safe, had become a security blanket, a way to calm his nerves. He remembered their kiss, no more than an hour before. She had kissed him. His heart fluttered, and heat gathered in his ears. He was grateful that he continued to keep his hair long to hide them.

 

"What's the plan, Benji?" Poe asked in the doorway. Bebe bounded into the room, pawing at the open messenger bag on the floor. 

 

"Just Ben." He leaned over to retrieve the fruit bar he kept in his bag and opened it for the cat. Bebe snatched the entire thing from his hand and abandoned the dried fruit for the crinkly wrapper. 

 

"Mhmmm, I heard you have some big party you're throwing down in someone's barn?" 

 

Ben quirked an eyebrow at him. 

 

Poe held his hands up. "Ey, just wondering why I wasn't invited."

 

Ben bit the inside of his cheek. "You're planning on taking someone tonight."

 

"Of course, Benny Boy," he laughed, throwing an arm around Ben's shoulders. "I really hope it's that prick, Hugs. I mean, Paige is a sweetheart, and she'd be a pleasure to take--best road trip buddy--but it's always more fun to take a jerk like that and see his face when he sees where he ends up."

 

Ben swallowed and rolled his shoulders. Poe got the hint and pulled his arm away. 

 

"You don't trust me, do you?"

 

"Why should I?"

 

"Why shouldn't you?"

 

"You ferry the dead to the hereafter." Ben scoffed and turned back to empty his messenger bag and fill it with the books and candles and tools he was going to need. 

 

"It won't be your time for a long time yet, buddy."

 

"It's not me I'm worried about." He froze as he was slipping a pack of chalk into a side pocket. "What do you mean, my time?"

 

Poe shrugged. "No one lives forever, Ben." He patted Ben's shoulder and scooped Bebe up. "Shoot me an invite to the wedding."

 

Ben spun around, but Poe was already out of sight. 

* * *

Ben glanced in the rear view window at the spirits of Rey and Paige. Both women were translucent in the waxing crescent moon between the trees. 

 

"So, the Knights of Ren, huh?" Rose asked in the front seat, fiddling with Paige's medallion.

 

"They call themselves that," Ben explained, slowing to turn onto a private dirt road. "I'm just taking advantage of the situation." The road was little more than the deep ruts sculpted into the earth by tractors and trucks and time.

 

"I didn't peg Molly as the type of person who would join a cult."

 

Ben snorted. "She's practically running it." He kept an eye out for wild animals.

 

Light began to flicker through the trees, and as he turned, a homestead appeared in the rippling light of a bonfire.

 

"They went all out," Rose said, biting her lip.

 

"Are you okay with being here, Rose?"

 

She nodded. "I want to be here." 

 

"Last chance. I can drive you home and come back."

 

"I'm going to do this. If Paige comes back, I need to be here when she does."

 

"Of course."

 

He parked in the gravel driveway in front of the house where only a beat up pick up truck stood sentry. The front yard, on the other hand, was overrun with all sorts of cars and trucks and atvs. He took a breath and exited his rental, grabbing his things from the back seat. Paige and Rey were already waiting outside the car. As Rose was coming around the front of the car, he stopped her.

 

"One more thing, Rose, do you want to see Paige's spirit as we're working through this? Because if you want to see Paige, you're also going to be seeing...others."

 

"Like Rey?"

 

"Yes, Rey's here, too."

 

"I like Rey. I think that would be nice."

 

Ben nodded and whispered "revelare mortuis." 

 

Rose burst into a smile when she finally saw Paige. "I'm so excited for this," she confided. 

 

Paige flickered to Rose's side. "Let's do this."

 

The group made their way to the bonfire halfway between the well-kept farmhouse and the decrepit barn. 

 

There were more students there this night than Ben had met before. He recognized faces from his classes and from Hux's classes and from passing by in the school hallways, but he didn't know the names of them. The number surrounding them fed the beginnings of panic in his soul, but Rey's hand on his elbow, tracing down his arm to his hand calmed him. 

 

"Master Ren!" Molly waved. They were off to the side with a large bag resting on the ground and an unconscious Hux tied to a lawn chair. "Rose!" She threw her arms around the girl, shorter than her. "And...Professor Tico?" she whispered, eyeing the now visible ghost. 

 

Ben nodded. "We need her spirit here if she's to be brought back," he explained. "Why are there so many people here?"

 

Molly looked back over the crowd. "We're all your Knights." She showed her bandaged left hand. "We made a pact."  

 

Ben caught her wrist and unwound the gauze. There was a fresh wound across her palm. "What did you do?"

 

"Power! Magic! We made the same promise you did with Snoke! He's giving us magic so we can serve you tonight!"

 

Ben paled, though no one could tell in the flickering light of the bonfire or the iridescent light of the crescent moon. "My power does not come from Snoke."

 

"Doesn't it, My Boy!" Snoke thundered, forming himself as a dark frame only visible against the bonfire. "Remember what you are asking tonight!"

 

Ben immediately fell to a knee, bowing before him. "Master."

 

Snoke's laugh quieted the crowd. "Yes, my Master of the Knights of Ren. I am proud of you. And your desires have come true, have they not? Attentive students with keen minds? All for you to use and mold?"

 

Ben's muscles tensed. "Thank you, Snoke."

 

Snoke chuckled again and moved past him. "Ah, you've brought a little snack, the precious Rey." Snoke looked down at the ghost of a girl, looking her up and down as he would a piece of meat. 

 

"She is here for other purposes, Master," Kylo Ren stopped him, now standing and moving between Snoke and Rey. "She is talented and powerful. She is essential to tonight's ritual."

 

"Ah, essential, is she?" Snoke smirked down at Rey. “We shall see about that, Kylo Ren.” 

 

Ben glowered as Snoke floated off to observe from the outskirts of the crowd. He glanced at Rose. 

 

“Was that...”

 

“The Demon Snoke,” he told Rose softly. “I need his help.”

 

"Help from a demon?" She nodded slowly. "I don't like the way he feels."

 

"You're not supposed to." Ben patted Rose's head gingerly and turned back to Molly. "Is everything ready?"

 

Molly nodded, rewrapping her sliced palm which had begun oozing blood again. "The body is in the bag, and the sacrifice is very unconscious."

 

"Is everyone here of their own free will?" Ben called out. "If anyone wants to leave, now is the time. This isn't just a bonfire and a Ouija board. There will be blood."

 

A few heads swiveled, wondering if anyone else was going to leave. Whispers spread. A pair of girls started to back away towards the cars, and a few more students joined them. Headlights turned on, blinding those watching, and the handful of cars started back down their dirt road. 

 

Rey set a hand on Ben's elbow. "You're giving everyone a chance to leave except you."

 

"I've done things I will always regret. I will give them the opportunity I never had." He looked down at her. "Do you want to leave?"

 

She shook her head. "I'm helping you."

 

His nod was imperceptible as he began stalking out a large circle beside the bonfire. He set his messenger bag down and dug out the chalk. He shook his head, put it back, and instead pulled out the book he had been studying. He cradled it in the crook of his left arm, and he waved the other. A flame bounded from the fire and awaited Kylo Ren's command. In a series of smooth movements, he fed the flame on the dry grass and shrubbery of the yard in a series of concentric circles. He paused and looked around himself in the center of the flames. The Knights of Ren stared at him. Ben paid them no heed. He waved his hand and puffed out a breath of air. The fire extinguished, leaving him in the center of ash. He surveyed his handy work, guiding a ball of flame through the air over the lines to make sure they were correct. He looked up at the sky and oriented himself facing east. He held out his hand to guide the flame over the ground, scrawling burning runes into the ground. He extinguished those as well, shoulders relaxing. 

 

He pointed at Armitage Hux, still unconscious, and the ropes fell from the chair. With a flick of Kylo Ren's wrist, Hux floated to the circle. 

 

"Molly," Ben called. "Get Paige out of the bag."

 

Molly obeyed, pulling her jacket over her nose as she unzipped the bag. She was grateful that the guys liked to hunt and had bags for their big game. She left the flaps open so Ben float Paige's body to the circle on the other side of him. Ben tried not to look to much at Paige's already decomposing body. 

 

"Rose, the medallion," he ordered. When she held it out, it flew to his waiting hand. 

 

A series of fires sprung up, creating the points of a pentagram around the edge of the outermost ash circle, enclosing Kylo Ren, Armitage Hux, and Paige Tico body and soul. A bone knife floated from his messenger bag to hover at waist level, waiting for when Kylo Ren had need of it. 

 

Snoke formed himself outside the circle facing Kylo Ren. "Are we ready to begin, my apprentice?"

 

Kylo bowed his head. "Yes, Master." He turned the page in his book and read out the beginning of the Latin incantation. He placed Paige's medallion over her chest, tracing a rune in the air before setting it down. He continued his chanting, taking the hovering knife and knee. "I offer this life for another, wrongfully taken!" The words, though surely spoken in ancient Latin, were understandable by all. In the next heartbeat, he thrust the knife straight through Hux's chest. 

 

The crackle of the bonfire seemed far too loud for the act that Kylo had just taken. No one moved. No one breathed. 

 

The air was as thick as cotton. 

 

Kylo Ren stared at the now certainly dead face of Armitage Hux. He had killed him. He slowly turned his head to look at Paige. She stood over her body, staring down at Kylo. 

 

He looked back to the book, reading and rereading the passage.

 

"It's not working," Paige whispered. 

 

A sob sounded behind them. They looked back to Rose who was crying and staring past the inhabitants of the circle. They all followed her gaze.

 

Snoke held the soul of Armitage Hux in his shadowy clutches. A tendril of Snoke's appendages covered the mouth of the spirit as Snoke lowered what was the closest opening the demon had for a mouth to the chest. It took a large gaping bite from the man's chest, an echo of snapping ribs reverberating over the crackling of fire. The soul thrashed, clutching at the demon that was ripping him apart bit by bit. 

 

"This was not a part of the deal!" Kylo Ren roared standing to his full height.

 

With a raise of his eyebrows, his mouth still devouring the man, Snoke forced Kylo Ren face first into the ash and dust and dirt. He slowly moved his mouth, rattling as he took a deep breath in. "No, Kylo Ren," he jeered. "Your deal with me is finally complete. A soul, for your immortality." 

 

Ben tried to raise himself up, pushing against the ground. A great pressure rested on him, preventing him from rising up. 

 

The Knights of Ren started to stir, and the ones at the farthest edges of the crowd started to turn away, trying to reach their cars.

 

With a sickening crack, they turned on their heels to face Snoke again. 

 

"You must always pay your debts, my boy," Snoke laughed. "I give you your Knights, who may serve you, but you serve me. They have already pledged themselves to me. They are going nowhere." He chuckled as he continued to work through the struggling soul. 

 

Rey stared at the horror before her, trying to think of what to do, trying to remember the lessons Ben Kenobi had given her, the pieces of knowledge she had leeched from her Ben who was now plastered to the ground. She watched as Snoke fed on the soul of Armitage Hux. Rey looked down at her hands. She was a spirit herself but stronger than any ghost Ben had encountered before, an equal to Ben's own magic. 

 

She steadied herself and flickered herself across the circle and pummeled into Snoke. He released Hux's soul, and immediately he was screeching and shouting and struggling to get away, scrambling to get back to his body. Rey fought against Snoke, punching, forcing him to the ground. The demon struggled to try to get a hold of her.

 

Paige stormed past Kylo Ren who was struggling to his feet. She stepped in front of the chewed up Armitage Hux and put her foot in his face. "How dare you take my life," she hissed. "How dare you torture these children. How dare you--." 

 

Before she could say anything else, Hux whispered "Master."

 

No one else heard. No one else paid attention. 

 

Kylo Ren had risen to his feet just as Snoke had managed to take a mouthful of Rey's soul. She screamed, and Ben was dragging her away. She stared at the stump of her soul, the image of her left hand gone. 

 

"You've done well, Armitage," a greasy voice announced. Another demon was forming itself in front of Hux. "My, my, you've had quite a chunk taken out of you." 

 

"Palpatine!" Snoke roared, surging forwards. 

 

"You've tried to consume my servant, Snoke," the newcomer sneered. "For that, I shall consume you."

 

The field was suddenly filled with bright clear light, and Ben Kenobi strode from the edge of the trees surrounding the field. His movements were so fast his image flickered as the living tried to follow him with their eyes. 

 

"Begone." His words were soft, but they thundered through each and every heart. 

 

The demons, Snoke and Palpatine, turned to stare down Kenobi, preparing to attack, to consume. 

 

"I said," Kenobi whispered, "Be Gone." In a ripple of energy, the demons fled from the scene, from the light emanating from this spirit. 

 

In the brief calm, Kenobi held out his hand, and the gauze bandaging the students' palms fell to the ground, revealing perfectly healed palms. The bonfire sputtered down to weak coals, but the entire homestead was brighter than noon-day. He looked over the crowd. "Go home. Be wiser." 

 

The students followed the command, wandering in awe back to their cars. 

 

Rose and Ben and Rey and Paige and Hux looked between each other and back to Ben Kenobi, the only beings left in the field. 

 

"How uncivilized," Kenobi said with a shake of his head.

 

The others felt tension release. They were safe, for now. 


	22. Chapter 22

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> The Aftermath

The quiet calm felt unnatural after the chaos they had all just endured. Ben Kenobi's bright light felt so strange in the middle of the night. 

 

Rey glanced up at the sky and noticed that she could hardly pick out the sliver of moon. She glanced back down at her own form. A hand was missing. Just gone. Completely. The conflict raged in her chest, but it felt so far away from her own heart. She looked back up at the others. 

 

Ben, her Ben, stood beside her with clenched fists, staring at the circle of ash where now two dead bodies lay.

 

Paige and Hux glared at each other, though Armitage was taking inventory of what soul he had left. It was enough of a shock to be dead, but even more of a shock to have bites taken out of his soul. 

 

Rose had sat herself on the ground a ways away from the last remaining charcoals of the bonfire, and she had curled her knees up to her chest, resting her forehead on them. 

 

"What are you doing here?" Ben asked, his chest shaking. "You're supposed to be with Finn."

 

Kenobi set a hand on Ben's shoulder. "Finn is alright. You're the ones who needed help."

 

A ripple of calm tumbled through Ben, and he took a calming breath in. "Why did they run from you?"

 

"When there is more than one, there is always one who is greater." He chuckled. "There is always a bigger fish." He patted Ben's shoulder. "Come now, let me show you a very specific detail you missed."

 

Ben offered the book, open to the page he was working from. 

 

Kenobi's ghostly hand pointed to a phrase that curled around the example for the circle he was working with. "Freely given, Ben. The life must be freely given by the soul that is being given."

 

Ben's gaze shot to the Hux's soul crouching over his lifeless body. "No," he breathed. "He never would have worked."

 

Kenobi shook his head. "Never."

 

Ben grew quiet, his mind whirling. "And immortality?"

 

"The same."

 

Ben looked up at Kenobi. "Am I immortal?"

 

Kenobi quirked a smile beneath his beard. "For now." He turned and set about churning the circles of ash into the dirt, moving Armitage Hux's body into the cooling coals of the bonfire. "Armitage. It is time for you to go now. Poe Dameron will be along shortly."

 

Hux's soul shot to his shaky feet. "No! I..." He searched for words, for reasons to stay, for revenge, for anything. 

 

Kenobi shook his head, setting his hand on Hux's shoulder. "You've completed all you could have done here. Would you have changed if you had more time to your life?"

Hux frowned. 

 

"You and your master have caused enough trouble with your voodoo magic," Kenobi explained with a pat, pulling his hand back to himself. "Now, it's time for your rest. We will have to deal with Palpatine, but he won't have any more power over your soul, Boy."

 

A strange wave of relief washed over Hux's face just as the revving of an engine broke the quiet.

 

Poe had just arrived in his bright orange Camaro. He stepped out of the car and saluted them. "Who's up for a road trip?"

 

Hux stepped forward, head held as high as ever, though he still had large bites taken out of his chest. 

 

"I should go..." Paige whispered. 

 

Rose leapt to her feet. "You can't leave me!" 

 

Ben stepped back. Rose's face was wet with tears and scrunched with rage. 

 

"I've just got you back! I had hope to have more time with you! You were going to live again!" Rose pointed at Paige's chest. "You can't do this to me!"

 

Poe nodded. "Keep Paige. She's got time. C'mon Hugs. Let's take a drive."

 

Hux obeyed warily, though he glanced back at the others. He got into the passenger's seat and reached for the seat belt, then laughed. "I'm already dead. I don't need a seat belt."

 

Poe snorted. "Sure thing, Hugs."

 

Ben watched Poe flip a u-turn and kick up dust as he sped down the dirt road, disappearing into the trees. 

 

"Can you do something with my hand?" Rey whispered, looking up to Kenobi. She waved her right hand through the space where her left hand used to be. 

 

He kindly shook his head. "No, I'm sorry, Rey."

 

"Does it hurt?" Ben returned, reaching out to examine the remains of her spiritual arm. 

 

She shook her head. "I can't feel anything. No phantom pains if there's no phantom limb, right?" 

 

He raised his eyebrows. 

 

"Sorry, not the time," she shook her head, looking back to Paige and Rose. 

 

"That's exactly why I want you to stay! Because I love you!" Rose was insisting.

 

"And I love you, but is it best that I come back? What would I do? Go back to teaching? My body should be in the ground. Everyone's already said their good-byes."

 

"Not me."

 

"You did."

 

"I won't. Not again!"

 

"Who would die for me, Rose? We saw tonight that it needs to be someone who would give their life freely! Who would give their life for me?"

 

"I would!"

 

"Don't you dare!" 

 

"You would die for me!"

 

"I'm already dead! Don't you dare die so that I could live! You have your whole life ahead of you!"

 

Ben looked to Kenobi. "Is there some way to preserve Paige's body so that it doesn't decay any further?"

 

Kenobi studied Paige's body and nodded, moving it back into the bag. He waved his hand over it as the zipper moved of its own volition. "As long as she's in the bag, she will remain the same as she is now."

 

"Thank you." Ben came closer to Paige's arguing spirit. "This isn't a decision to make tonight. Come back to the house with us. Spend time with Rose. If we find a way to return you to your body, we will. If not, we'll let you go with Poe when your time comes."

 

"ProSo, what are you saying!" Rose barked, wiping tears from her cheeks though they were tumbling faster than she could wipe them away. 

 

Ben tugged her into a hug. "It's not your choice when she has to go."

 

"But how can I let her go when I've got her back?" she sobbed into his shirt. 

 

He looked to Paige, face softening. "Because you know you'll see her again, after this." He squeezed her tight, knowing she needed this comfort. "You're not just gone. She's not just gone."

 

Paige smiled at him and nodded for him to continue.

 

"You've gained a little extra time together here, but when she moves on, you'll know you are going to meet up with her later."

 

"I still hate that she'll have to leave."

 

"I'm not leaving yet," Paige whispered, flickering to their side to set a hand on Rose's shoulder though she knew she wouldn't be able to feel it. 

 

"Rose, would you like to do the honors?" Kenobi asked, gesturing to a pack of matchsticks that had fallen from Ben's messenger bag. 

 

"I'd love to see him go up in flames," Paige encouraged.

 

Rose peeked from Ben's shirt, nodded, and gave Ben a final squeeze before letting him go. "Thank you, ProSo." She picked up the matchbox and slowly pulled a single match from it. She looked down at Hux's lifeless body laid out on the remnants of the bonfire. She lit the match, glorying in the little flickering light, so small and inconspicuous in the overwhelming white light emanating from Ben Kenobi. She threw the match on Hux's chest, and it smoldered for a moment. Ben gave a wink to Rey, puffed out his cheeks, and blew a soft steady stream of air. The bonfire grew and spread from the single red lit match to a great crackling yellow monument to an intense blue and a final solid pure white column of fire to rival Kenobi's light. 

 

Rose covered her nose and mouth. "It smells awful."

 

Kenobi's eyes were sad when Ben looked over. "Burning flesh is such an unpleasant smell."


	23. Chapter 23

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Sentimentality

Maz was waiting on the front porch when they arrived back in the early hours of the morning. 

 

She hobbled down the steps and pulled Ben and Rose into the tightest hug she could. "You stupid stupid children," she sighed, too tired and relieved to have them back to really scold them. The hug was all they really needed, though, a reminder that they were not alone in the world and someone cared about them, someone cared that they were out so late, someone cared if they were alright. 

 

"Maz, we found Paige's body," Ben told her.

 

She sighed and patted his back. "I supposed you would. Her grave is empty. I have space in the basement."

* * *

Ben waited until everyone had settled to bed, with Rey and Paige escaping to Rey's greenroom. He took a single topaz crystal from his bookshelf and cradled it in his hand. 

 

"Hey."

 

Ben turned to face his father. He swallowed.

 

"I thought you didn't want to see me."

 

Ben shook his head. "I'm sorry, for what I did."

 

Han blinked. "Well, uh, no harm no foul, right?" He grimaced at the sentiment.

 

The corner of Ben's mouth turned up. Just like his father to not know what to say and to fumble over his words. 

 

"Uh what I mean is--"

 

Ben held out his hand. "You died for me."

 

Han shifted and shoved his hands into his pockets. "Well, yeah, I told you that I'd do anything to help you. You know that. I'd do anything."

 

"And you did. You died for me."

 

Han smiled and nodded. 

 

"For my immortality."

 

Han chuckled. "Of course. You're a good kid. A better man than I ever was."

 

Ben's eyes fell to the hardwood floor, and he bit the inside of his cheek. 

 

Han tried to set his hand on Ben's shoulder, but it hovered through. "You are, Ben. I've kept an eye on you. I know how much you're doing for others. What you're doing for Paige and Rose and Rey and Finn. Maz can't say enough good things about you."

 

"I've killed people. I killed you."

 

"Hey," Han said, stepping back and spreading his arms out. "I get to see you more now."

 

Ben snorted. 

 

"And I was talking to Maz. She was talking about why you're here. I mean, you were all good in your teaching job in DC and all, but there were rumors that you were the one who killed me."

 

"I did kill you."

 

"But your mother wasn't going to let that ruin your life, or hers. A senator in the middle of a murder scandal between her husband and son." He laughed and rolled his eyes. "She always took care of you. You wouldn't be here if you hadn't killed me. You would have stayed where you were, and you would have never met that girl, Rey." Han smiled at that. "I like her. It sounds like you like her, too."

 

Ben's ears reddened. 

 

"And your old job wasn't going to keep you. You needed somewhere to go. And Maz took you in as her own." Han smiled. "And you're better for it. You're better because I died for you. You're alive because I died for you. At least that's what old Ben told me." He ran a hand through his hair. "The last thing I remember before I died was touching your face, right where that scar is."

 

Ben touched his scar, remembering the hot tears covering his face and the last touch of his father. "You're the one who gave me immortality, not Snoke," he whispered. 

 

Han smiled. "If you believe in that kind of thing."

 

Ben looked down at the topaz in his hand. He offered it to Han. 

 

Han quirked a smile and took it. Ben threw his arms around his father's shoulders, a little more solid than before. "I'm so sorry, Dad. Thank you for trying to help."

 

"Hey, it's what a dad's supposed to do, isn't it?"

* * *

Ben sent a quick email to Holdo and his students letting them know that he wouldn't be holding class the following day, or rather that day, but the sun still had not risen, and 4 in the morning was not quite the next day for him. Considering most of his students were also present see him murder a fellow teacher and continued to watch as a demon tried to devour the soul of the recently dead, it would be good to give everyone a chance to catch up on lost sleep and let the initial horror blow over. He wondered how much Ben Kenobi had played with their memories. If he had wiped away a blood covenant from their palms, what had he done to their minds?

 

He couldn't be bothered to consider the possibilities. He fell into his bed, waving a hand for his curtains to cover the window, leaving him in a deeper darkness to allow sleep.

* * *

"Ben!" Maz shouted again. He pried his eyes open to his dark room. Again. How many times had she shouted?

 

"Happy Birthday," Rey greeted, a soft hand resting on his arm. 

 

Ben groaned and buried his face in his pillow.

 

"There's a man here for you with a gift from your mother."

 

"Ben!" Maz shouted again. 

 

He rolled from his bed and rubbed his eyes when he entered the lit hallway. "Coming Maz!"

 

He glanced at his watch. He hadn't taken it, or his clothes, off before he fell asleep. 2 in the afternoon. He missed the last step and stumbled as he reached the main floor. Before he could regain his balance, he was being dragged into a hug by an extraordinarily large hairy man.

 

"Uncle Chewie?" He gasped into a broad chest. 

 

"Happy Birthday, Kid," the thick gruff accent greeted. 

"Come on back into the kitchen, Chewie," Maz laughed. "Let's cut into that cake you brought."

 

He followed his father's best friend back into the kitchen and chuckled at a sleepy Rose leaning against a counter with hair curling every which way. "Morning Rose."

 

"Afternoon, ProSo," she slurred with a wave and a yawn. "Happy Birthday." 

 

Chewie offered an immaculately wrapped package, stating that it had come straight from his mother. He pointed to the box on the counter that Maz was opening, stating that that had come from him. 

 

Ben ripped the wrapping off and took the lid off the small box. It was a white cardboard jewelry box that necklaces or watches would come in, and a medallion carved into clay greeted him. 

 

"What did you get?" Rose asked, peeking over his elbow. 

 

He pulled a folded paper from beneath the charm, a note from his mother.

 

_Happy Birthday Ben_

_I found this when I was going through my birth mother's things. She had a beautiful fashion sense, but I thought you would appreciate this more._

_I asked Threepio about it. He said that Anakin Skywalker had made it for her. It's nice to have things from where you come from._

_Love you,_

_Mom_

 

Ben studied the medallion again. "My grandfather made this for my grandmother," he told Rose. "My mom found it in her things. She was adopted, so this is from her birth parents. Sentimental," he finished wistfully. 

 

Rose's hand raised to her own medallion around her neck. "That's so thoughtful."

 

"It is, isn't it?"

 

"What piece do you want, Ben?" Maz asked, turning the cake so he could look at the decorations. Dinosaurs.

 

Chewie burst into chortles at Ben's face, though Ben's surprise dissolved into laughter, too. "I'll take the raptor."


	24. Chapter 24

 

Ben's birthday was nice. It felt genuine. He even made a point to call his mother and thank her for the gift and for sending Chewie over. In a quiet moment, Chewie found him and shuffled through his pockets to find the little bit of topaz Ben had given him at his father's funeral. He asked if Ben was doing okay, if he was handling things with his father's death, if the change of scenery had been good for him. He even made a joke about how there was always a co-pilot's chair for him. Ben peeked out the window to look at the semi-truck parked in front of the house, emblazoned with Millennium Falcon shipping on the side. It ended up with Ben again in a large gruff hug.

* * *

 

That night, as soon as everyone had gone to bed, Ben set about setting protective spells around the house to specifically deter the demons he had foolishly allowed into his life. He knew now that all his promises with Snoke were false. Every single one was a con to trick Ben to bring Snoke souls to consume and blood to feed on and power to fatten him. Snoke had such pretty words that stroked Ben's ego, stroked his loneliness. He thought they were true. Even a demon could lie. 

 

At last, he set himself down on the back porch and looked up at the sky. The crescent moon was a little bigger tonight. 

 

"Did you have a good birthday?" Rey asked as she took a seat beside him.

 

"I did," he nodded. He looked over at Rey. "You're not afraid of being out here in the dark?"

 

Rey shook her head. "I know what you were doing."

 

He smiled. "I guess it would keep you protected, too."

 

Rey scooted closer. Ben easily put an arm around her shoulder. "What are we going to do now?"

 

Ben was silent for a moment. "Keep our routine for a while. Stay inside on Halloween. Wait it out until Thanksgiving break. I need to go apologize to my uncle."

 

"Chewie?"

 

He shook his head. "Luke. My mother's twin." He gave her a smile and a squeeze. "I think you'll like him."

 

"Is he like you or like your mother?"

 

"Like me. I stayed with him for a while between high school and college. Took a year off and traveled the world with him. It was an amazing experience, but was really rough for the both of us. We didn't end on good terms. I haven't seen him since."

 

"So what do you have to apologize for?"

 

"Following demons instead of him."

 

"Snoke still wants you for your power, doesn't he?"

 

"Of course. I didn't realize that I had so much power on my own. I didn't realize that I didn't need him." He looked up at the stars. "Coming here was the best thing that could have happened to me." He glanced at her under his arm. She was translucent in the moonlight, and he could see the porch through her legs. "I wasn't expecting to find people I'd care about here, especially who would care about me in return."

 

Rey leaned against him. "How did you fall in love with me?"

 

"Your eyes, first," he started out thoughtfully. "Then you were a mystery I wanted to solve. Why couldn't I cast spells on the succulent you gave me? Why could you see my father? Why couldn't everyone see you? What kind of power you had?" He shook his head. "I paid so much attention that I started to notice how you moved, and not just through walls, but how you held yourself and how you worked with your plants. How you're so direct with things. You could have asked what I thought of you, and instead you reached straight to my heart, literally." He gave her shoulders another squeeze. He softened. "I saw you talking with Finn, and I didn't realize at the time that he wasn't here physically, but you were so kind with him. You spoke with him when no one else acknowledged him."

 

Rey shrugged. "I thought he was new. I...I know my memory doesn't quite work right. I remember giving him his plant. I remember giving Rose her plant. I remember working with my plants. I remember bits and pieces of Maz. I remember seeing Poe around, mainly his cat. But I was numb I think. It's been so long since I...died? I don't have 50 years of memories, Ben. I've been in...limbo?" She moved so her right hand was under her thigh. "But I remember you? All of you. At least I think I do. Especially after the crystals." She dug the crystal from her pocket to let it sparkle in the starlight. 

 

"Tethers," he offered in explanation. 

 

She nodded and looked down. "Do you think you'll ever be able to resurrect Paige?"

 

"I can't say. I want to."

 

"Are you going to try again?"

 

Ben's breath caught in his chest. "Yes."

 

"Not just with Paige, though."

 

He shook his head. "Well, yes I'm going to try with Paige again, but I want to try with you."

 

"Who would die for me?" When he didn't answer, she pressed further. "You can't die, for me or anyone else."

 

Ben shook his head. "I'm going to try not to."

 

Rey nodded. "How about Maz?"

 

"Rey!"

 

"She loves me!" She stood. "She saved my life, or tried to at least. She's getting old! She'll die eventually! Why not put that to use!"

 

"She's the closest thing you have to a parent! I killed my father! It haunts me. He haunts me!" Ben suddenly straightened up. "Except...that's why I'm immortal." He frowned, hunching over to rest his chin in his hand. 

 

"She would die for me," Rey said, kneeling before Ben. 

 

"We shouldn't even ask."

 

"What's the difference between taking Hux's life for revenge and asking for Maz's for love?" She set her hands on his knees. "Because that's what this is about. This is because you love me. And you would rather give your life for me to live without you. I told you it was cruel, for the immortal to love the dead. You don't have to die if Maz agrees." Rey sat back on her heels and looked away. "But you love her, too."

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> It was Rey's idea, not mine. It had not even crossed my mind that...until I wrote this. I'm conflicted.


	25. Chapter 25

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> It's been a bit crazy on my end. One of my coworkers got fired, and so I've been training everyone on everything to cover that. Dogsitting got thrown in the mix.   
> I hope all y'all's summers have been great!

The witching hour came and went, and Ben was meditating in his room. He had created a protective circle with chalk and candles and crystals, but it had been more energy and time consuming than before as he was now adjusting his magic to separate himself from Snoke. He was still kicking himself. How could he have fallen for Snoke’s lies?

  
An angry tear dribbled down his cheek, and Ben wiped it away, focusing on another cleansing breath.

  
After a time, he opened his eyes to the dim room. Rey’s crystals and succulent and UV light had been moved back to the green room. He had to admit he felt lonely now.

  
He waved a hand for the little white box he had left on his desk. It opened, and with a flick of his wrist, his grandmother’s medallion flew across the room into his waiting hand. He examined it, meditating on its properties, on the things he knew about his grandparents.

  
He knew that they were married in secret. Artoo had let him know that.

  
His grandmother was a senator, and he smiled knowing that his mother followed in her footsteps. He was sure she would be proud of her strong-willed daughter. But would she be proud of him? He shook his head and continued to take stock.

  
She worked opposite of a Senator Palpatine.

  
He suddenly became lightheaded. Palpatine. The name of the demon Hux was calling master. Was he a demon? Was he a ghost? Was he both? Did he possess Palpatine’s body? But why would he keep the name? What had happened to Palpatine? Why was he toying with Hux? What did Hux have that Palpatine would have wanted? Hux wasn’t magical, was he? What about his grandfather? Was his grandfather in a similar position as Ben was? Was he tied to a demon just as Ben was? Was it just as big of a mistake?

  
“Ben? Ben, shhhh, what’s wrong?” Rey had appeared in front of him, hands on his cheeks. “I felt your distress.”

  
He tugged her into his arms, focusing on his breathing. “I’m sorry to bother you.”

  
“What’s wrong though?”

  
“Palpatine was the name of the Senator my grandmother was a rival against and the man my grandfather was employed under.”

  
“And the Demon that Hux served...”

  
Ben nodded. He pulled back to look her in the face. “I wonder if my grandfather was caught in the same sort of situation I am.”

  
Rey’s face fell. “He won’t talk about it, will he?”

  
Ben looked down to the medallion in his hand. “Maybe he will.”

  
He waved his hand, and the obsidian stoned floated down from the bookshelf. Rey sat cross-legged beside Ben and watched as he set the stones in a circle around the little clay medallion. He closed his eyes. “Who should I call first, Rey?”

  
“Your grandmother.”

  
He nodded and set about calling out to her soul.

  
“She will not come.” Ben Kenobi leaned against Ben’s desk. “I told you, her soul is gone. I’ve tried.”

  
Ben slouched. His eyes then flickered up to Kenobi. “You knew her. What was she like?”

  
Kenobi smiled and folded himself cross legged outside the circle. “Kind, noble. The noblest politician you’d ever meet. She believed in the system.” He paused as he reminisced. “She was an excellent shot with a handgun. We had a few adventures ourselves.”

  
“Hold on, you knew my grandmother and my grandfather and everything that happened! What did happen? How did they meet? How did Anakin Skywalker become Darth Vader? What was Palpatine’s plan? What is Palpatine now?”

  
Kenobi laughed. “All right, there, Clever boy. I’ll tell you.” He motioned for Ben to move out of the circle, which he did, settling in besides the ghost on the floor, and Rey lining up beside him, all against Ben’s bed.

  
With a glance from Kenobi, the objects in Ben’s circle rearranged themselves and a hazy circle of smoke began to form from the lit candles. Shadows started to move through it and form flashes of scenes and memories.

  
“The first time I met Anakin Skywalker,” Kenobi began, “He was an impoverished child living with his single mother.”

  
The smoke formed into a scene of a very young Ben Kenobi at a table with a small blonde child beside a weathered woman. An older man sat beside him, along with a teenaged girl and a third dark skinned man.

  
“I was an intern to Mr. Jinn. He was a part of Padme’s support team. She was an incredibly successful politician, even at her young age. We were headed to DC, and our bus had broken down. We were trying to get the parts, and the Skywalkers took us in though they hardly had anything.”

  
The scene changed to little Anakin hugging his mother before bounding onto a bus.

  
“Mr. Jinn promised to care for Anakin to give him a better life. We brought him with us to DC. Things did not turn out how we expected, and Mr. Jinn was killed in an assassination attempt. Raising Anakin fell to me.”

  
Ben looked to Kenobi’s face. He looked so sad.

  
“Mr. Jinn had powers, much like I do, like Anakin, like you. He could tell. That’s why he offered to take care of Anakin.” The scene changed again to an adult Padme speaking with an old Palpatine, an adult Anakin standing off to the side. “Nobody knew until much too late that Sheev Palpatine was also immensely powerful, seeking to take over the greatest power in the world.”

  
The scene changed to Anakin and Padme embracing, hardly hidden by an ornate column at a bustling gala. “Anakin became Padme’s body guard, soon after her husband. Anakin was a great many things, intelligent, strategic, powerful, but he was not discreet. He was constantly in and out of the political scene, watching over Padme. Palpatine had been watching his progress ever since we had brought him to DC that first time.”

  
Another scene formed of a pregnant Padme giving a speech, with Palpatine and Anakin in the background.

  
“Palpatine had tried to sway Padme to his cause. It did not work. But he swayed Anakin to his theologies.”

  
The scene in the smoke changed to Anakin kneeling before Palpatine. “The power was enticing to this young man who had never felt in control of anything in his life. He bound himself to Palpatine because of his fear for Padme who was growing sick with her pregnancy.” The scene changed to a tender moment with Anakin rousing Padme from sleep to give her a kiss in early morning light.

  
The smoke formed a new scene of fire and frantic movement, and it took a moment before they could pick out Anakin casting magic through chaos. “He did many terrible things under Palpatine’s guidance, and when I went to confront him...fire broke out. He did not make it out unscathed. That same night, Padme died giving birth to Luke and Leia. Palpatine’s magic kept Anakin alive. The Organas took in Leia. I took Luke back to the Skywalker family. Anakin’s mother had married, and his step-brother agreed to raise Luke. I stuck around there. You know the story from there, Ben.”

  
Ben nodded and looked to Rey. She had her knees pulled up to her chest. “It’s such a tragedy.”

  
“All of this has been a tragedy.”

  
“I will not let our story end in a tragedy.”

  
Ben smiled at her. He knew she would do everything she could to keep that promise. "And how did Palpatine become what he did?"

  
"That is a story for your uncle to tell you." Kenobi stood, and the other two followed suit. "You should check in with Finn in the morning. He should be waking up."

  
Ben's eyes lit up. "Were you able to heal him?"

  
Kenobi chuckled. "Yes, I was. He'll be perfectly fine. And I added my own charm to make sure he rests."

  
"Thank you, Ben Kenobi. You've given us a great deal of hope."


	26. Chapter 26

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> How they spent Halloween

The moment Ben saw Rose come down the stairs the next morning, he pushed a slice of banana bread into her hands. "Finn's waking up this morning. Let's go."

 

She made no protest, already shoving a large chunk of bread into her mouth, following Ben and Maz out to Ben's rental.

 

When they entered the hospital, the receptionist glanced up and laughed. "I was just about to call you. Finn Samuel is awake. Same room he's been in."

 

"Thank you," they echoed, already headed to the elevator. 

 

Finn was sitting up and slowly eating a bowl of watery oatmeal. "Hi!" 

 

Rose was first to his side, hugging him as much as she could without bothering his bandages. 

 

"Hey," he chuckled hoarsely. "Hi, Solo."

 

"Did you just call me Solo?"

 

Finn smiled, hugging Rose as tight as he could for being unconscious for so long. "Is Rey coming?"

 

Rose frowned and stepped back, holding his hand. "Rey?"

 

"Yeah, she's the other boarder? In the green room?" He blinked and then shook his head. "Must have been a dream. Nobody's stayed in the green room." He leaned back and went back to focus on eating his oatmeal. "I must have had this really vivid dream with this lady named Rey. She was really friendly and took care of all the plants."

 

Ben sighed and sat down, a small smile in the corner of his mouth. "You missed all the excitement. Do you want to tell him, Rose?"

 

Rose obliged, filling him in on everything--the car accident, what happened with Hux, the nature of Rey, trying to resurrect Paige--as he finished his oatmeal. 

 

"Rey's not here now," Ben told them, "but she did let me know that she enjoyed talking with you." He laughed then. "You also showed up in my class a few times. I really appreciate your dedication to school, but we'll make sure that you'll be taken care of as far as school is concerned. Holdo has assured me that your semester has been refunded, and you weren't penalized for missing your classes."

 

Finn stared at the wall unfocused. "This is wild."

 

"It is a lot, isn't it?" Rose agreed. 

 

"Are you sure I'm still not asleep?"

 

Rose squeezed his hand. "Very sure."

 

* * *

Ben found himself sitting on the daybed in the green room, staring out the windows at the night sky. It was growing colder, and he had just finished bringing plants in off the deck. Though Halloween was only the next day, there was already frost forming from the dew overnight. The night was quiet and soft, and it felt like home with Rey sitting beside him in the dark room. 

 

“I’ve never actually said it, have I?” Rey whispered. 

 

“Said what, Sweetheart?”

 

“That I love you?”

 

He quirked a smile and took her ghostly palm in his. “If you hadn’t yet, you have now.” He stroked his thumb over her spirit. “Do you?”

 

She nodded. “Very much. Almost as much as Rose loves Paige.”

 

“Oh...like a sibling then?” 

 

Rey shook her head. “No, the depth of it.”

 

He smiled and glanced at her. “What do you want, Rey, with your life? What would you do with your life if we got it back for you?”

 

Rey was quiet as she pondered. “Eat. I would eat the fruit I grow. The blackberries and the tomatoes. And pizza. I loved pizza so much. Plutt had frozen pizza? And that was my favorite.”

 

Ben laughed. “Frozen pizza from the 50s? I’ll have to take you to a nice pizzeria.”

 

Rey’s eyes lit up. “Travel! We should travel!”

 

Ben smiled. “And where would we go?”

 

“England! I was born there, I think. California! Hollywood where all the movies were made. DC to see your mother!”

 

“And when we weren’t traveling?”

 

“We’d be here. It’s home. I’m sure Maz would let us stay. You’d work at the college. I’ll have my plants.” She beamed. “Get rid of Plutt and take over his auto shop. Have Rose really help me out.” She leaned against Ben’s shoulder. “Visit your mother. Let your father visit. You'll have to make sure I can see him if I can't after I get my body back. Have your uncle Chewie visit too. Have a family of our own.”

 

“Would you want that?”

 

“Children? Yes, of course. With you. We’ll be excellent parents. We won’t abandon them. We’ll put them first. We’ll teach them how to be safe with magic. We’ll protect them from demons. We’ll make sure they always know they’re loved. Can you imagine how good we’d be?”

 

Ben found that he was crying. 

 

“Ben, What’s wrong?”

 

“My father died for me.”

 

“Are you're worried you wouldn’t die for them?”

 

“No, I’d die for them in an instant, and they don’t even exist yet.”

 

Rey threw her arms around his shoulders. “Let’s pray there’s never a need to die for them.”

 

He chuckled and leaned his cheek against her forehead.

* * *

Halloween came with minimal pomp. Maz had added little bundles of drying herbs at the windows and rock salt along the windowsills. Ben had spent the daytime at work and then once class finished, reinforcing the protective spells around Maz's property. Rose had gone to school and then the hospital to spend the holiday with Finn who was staying until his back was properly healed. 

 

As the sun lowered in the sky, children began trickling through the streets. Maz took up her post at the front door with a large bowl of candy.

 

Ben looked through the window as children ran from door to door. "I remember there being more children when I was young."

 

Rey peered over his desk out the window. "I never really went trick-or-treating. I tried to sneak out once to go, but..." She shrugged and shook her head. "Plutt was not a kind guardian."

 

Ben nodded. "We'll take care of him. One day. After we get your body."

 

"What about your car?"

 

"It's got some protections over it. Plutt can't rip it apart. I know it's all in one piece. It's not the end of the world if I can't get it back. The worst he can do is sell it." He turned back to his bedroom. "What I'm worried about is your body and soul. How are we going to get all of you together?"

 

Rey sighed and looked to the bookshelf. "I really don't know. Would your grandfather know anything?"

 

He shrugged, putting his hands in his pockets. "I haven't tried reaching out to him again."

 

"Well tonight is perfect," she decided with a nod, setting her hand on the shelf the obsidian stones rested on.

 

"Alright, Sweetheart," he agreed. He waved his hand and the stones floated down, joining his circling candles. 

 

He chalked out a circle big enough for Rey to join him in his circle. He sat down and crossed his legs, offering his hand to help Rey into the circle over the candles. 

 

"I'm not going to get burned," she laughed. 

 

"Join me, regardless."

 

She did, taking his hand and folding her legs like Ben had his own. He took her other hand in his. He closed his eyes and suddenly reopened them. He gave a wave of his hand for his grandmother's pendant to fly across the room to join them. "Maybe this will help him be coherent."

 

Rey smiled as it settled in the circle of obsidian stones. Ben closed his eyes and set about summoning his grandfather. 

 

Rey sat silently, holding Ben's hands, studying his face. It was easier to explore his face when his eyes weren't poring into her soul, and his eyes were always so intense, expressive. He looked so young, so soft. The scar that cracked his face was no longer large, angry, nor irritated as it was when it was new, and she found that she actually quite liked it.  His face wasn't symmetrical, and it never had been. His nose was prominent, but it fit the rest of his proportions. His lips, though, always caught her off guard. No man should have lips like him. 

 

Her eyes fluttered down, now embarrassed that she had been thinking of him like that. The black stones and medallion were clustered together between them. Rey frowned. The medallion was leaning against an obsidian, and where they met was now changing to a twinkling rivulet of clear crystal. 

 

"Ben."

 

He opened his eyes and followed her gaze. He let her hands go and picked up the stone and medallion. He turned the obsidian in the light so that the streak of clear crystal sparkled in the light. 

 

"It's like what happened with our crystals."

 

"It certainly seems like it." He set the pair off to the side so they wouldn't do anything to the other stones. 

 

They returned to their silence, except for the gentlest flicker of the candles in the dimming light. 

 

"Padme?"

 

Ben opened his eyes again to look up at the standing image of his grandfather. He looked younger, like in the pictures Ben had seen. 

 

"Grandfather."

 

"Where is Padme?"

 

Ben picked up the medallion. 

 

Anakin Skywalker's eyes were drawn to him. "Where is Padme?" His voice, now younger and smoother, was low and sad and pleading. 

 

"I don't know," Ben answered. "But I am seeking your guidance, Grandfather."

 

"Grandfather," Anakin's voice echoed. "Luke?"

 

"I am Leia's son."

 

"Leia."

 

Ben stood, guiding Rey to her feet. 

 

"You look like Padme," Anakin whispered, eyes flitting across Ben's face. His image flickered briefly between the old man Ben normally encountered and the young one now in front of him. 

 

"Grandfather, I would like to resurrect Rey, this girl," Ben pushed forward, looking down at Rey at his side. 

 

The vision before them flickered violently until finally disappearing from view.

 

Ben sighed and looked back to Rey. "I've never seen him so clear and coherent."

 

"He's still so sad."

* * *

Rose dumped a bag of Halloween candy in a large orange bowl Maz had offered her when she had told her she was going to see Finn. "Wouldn't want you to miss out on the festivities."

 

Finn chuckled and reached out for her hand to hug her. "Thanks, Rose." She laughed and hugged him tight before flopping into the chair beside him and open up her engineering book. 

 

He dug into the bowl to grab a Baby Ruth. "So I've been thinking, you were saying something about how Rey's really this mechanic."

 

Rose glanced up. "Her body is. Her spirit hangs out around Maz's." She smiled as she looked back down at the book. "Don't tell ProSo I told you, but he's madly in love with her. Like absolutely smitten with her."

 

Finn quirked an eyebrow. "He's in love with a ghost?"

 

"There's nothing wrong with that. I'm in love with you, aren't I?"

 

Finn stared at her. "You are?"

 

"Of course I am, Dummy," She sighed, throwing another Baby Ruth at him. "But what were you thinking about Rey?"

 

He started opening the candy. "Well, you guys are planning on getting her body? To try to resurrect her or whatever? How are you going to do it?"

 

Rose shrugged. "No idea. I'm leaving that up to ProSo. He's the magic around here."

 

"Do you think you'll need magic? Because I'm pretty sure I can get her out." He stuffed the chocolate in his mouth. 

 

Rose turned her head to him. "Are you serious??? You've just been in a coma! I'm not letting you try to liberate Flesh Rey!"

 

Finn snorted with his mouthful of chocolate. He swallowed painfully. "Flesh Rey?"

 

"There's our Rey, and then her body Rey, and we couldn't call the physical Rey Real Rey because she's not the real Rey, she's just the body, so we call them Real Rey and Flesh Rey to keep them straight."

 

"I should've stayed in a coma."

"Very Funny Finn Samuel."

 

"And not until I'm out of the hospital, but it looks like I've got some free time so I can help you get Flesh Rey out."

 

"Alright," Rose obliged, narrowing her eyes. "But I'll be coming with you."


	27. Chapter 27

"You're going to break Rey out of Plutt's?" Ben snorted, crossing his arms over his chest at the thought. He shook his head at Finn. He held up a finger, whispered "Revelare Mortuis," and Rey appeared beside him. "You really think you'll be able to get her body out?"

 

"She's real!" Finn gasped, staring at Rey standing beside Ben in his hospital room. 

 

"I am. It takes a little magic to see me, but I am," she affirmed.

 

He grinned and looked pointedly at Ben. "I'm the best choice for this! Plutt doesn't know who I am. He won't be paying attention to me, and he won't be paying attention to people without magic. He has no reason to eat me."

 

Ben slowly lowered his arms. "You're right." He nodded and began pacing. "That could work."

 

Rose nodded. "I'll drive him. He can't get her out on his mangled bike."

 

"I'll make sure you get a new bike," Ben assured. "But yes, that could work. I'll get you a spell to knock her out, make sure that she's not tethered to anything there."

 

"You don't think she'll come willingly?" Rose wondered.

 

Rey shrugged. "I wouldn't know. I can come with you to see if I can help. I just have to stay out of sight of Plutt."

 

"Am I interrupting something?" Holdo asked from the doorway.

 

"Nothing at all, Amilyn," Ben assured, stepping back. 

 

She nodded and entered the room, pulling a folder from her bag and handing it to Finn. "We're all so happy that you're recovering, Finn," she greeted. "The school administration has set up a fundraiser, and I wanted to share this with you."

 

Finn took the folder and curiously opened it to see a letter outlining everything. He suddenly put a hand over his mouth. "For everything?"

 

Holdo beamed. "Your entire education while you are enrolled at our campus. Your entire Bachelor's degree, all fees, all books and materials."

 

"Finn! That's amazing!" Rose squealed. 

 

Holdo nodded to Rose. "We had so many contributions from the community that everything was covered for him. He will be able to receive his education and continue whenever he is ready to take it on."

 

"Thank you so much, Ms. Holdo," Finn said, rubbing his eyes. "This is amazing!"

 

"It's our pleasure, Finn."  She nodded to Ben. "May I speak with you for a moment?"

 

Ben nodded and followed her down the hall. 

 

"I brought the information you and Rose brought up to the police. I do remember seeing the medallion on Paige's body during the viewing. They looked into it, and Paige Tico's grave is empty."

 

Ben stared at Holdo, wondering what she was going to say next until he realized that this was brand new information to her. He feigned surprise. "Empty? Paige Tico's body isn't buried where it's supposed to be?"

 

Holdo shook her head. "The police have investigated Armitage's apartment. His vehicle was still there. His apartment was empty but showed no signs of him leaving. No clothes or luggage gone. All important documents were left. Even his wallet was left beside his keys. It seemed like he disappeared." She took a breath. "And they searched the property, and found his storage closet, where there was evidence of keeping a dead body there for some time, and the lab results do suggest that it was Paige Tico's body." 

 

Ben made his face solemn. "That's awful."

 

"They have a warrant out for Armitage, but I haven't been able to get a hold of him. It's horrifying that..." Holdo put a hand over her mouth. "Sorry, this is hard for me."

 

Ben nodded and set a hand on her shoulder. "I'm sorry to hear that. It is hard for everyone. Have you told Rose?"

 

Holdo shook her head. "Not yet, but the police do have her number. She should be alerted soon."

 

"And if Armitage Hux is never found?"

 

Holdo shook her head again. "I'm no legal expert."

 

Ben nodded. "Thank you for letting me know. I knew I recognized the medallion. I didn't know it would open up this can of worms."

 

"I appreciate it. Armitage will no longer be teaching here regardless though." Holdo laughed. "I came to tell you because his car had a lot of damage on the front bumper."

 

"Wait, he doesn't have LED headlights, does he?"

 

Holdo nodded. "They believe he may have been your hit and run."

 

Ben nodded. "That is unfortunate."

 

"I only know all this because I'm friends with the detective who first looked into Paige's case. You can't spread these things around, Ben, but I trust you. You aren't the gossipy sort."

 

"I'll keep them quiet, Holdo."


End file.
